KARACHI, Oct 23: The additional district and sessions judge, Tasneem Sultana, granted on Tuesday pre-arrest bail to Shaikh Abdul Majeed, the father of the deceased groom Hafiz Mohammad Azeem Shaikh.

Advocate Shaikh Javaid Mir had submitted an application to District and Sessions Judge Abdul Maalik under Section 498 of the Criminal Procedure Code which was transferred to Additional District and Sessions Judge Tasneem Sultana for further action.

The lawyer argued that Azeem, who along with his bride was found murdered in mysterious circumstances on the morning of Aug 11 after their wedding was the only son of Shaikh Abdul Majeed.

He said police had neither arrested the murderer nor produced a charge-sheet in the case so far. He said they were rather bent upon harassing the father of the deceased by conducting raids for his arrest just to save their face. The police were bound under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code to submit investigation details within 17 days, he said, adding that the charge-sheet had not been produced in court despite lapse of more than two months.

The lawyer said his client had submitted another application to the court for the transfer of the investigation of the couple’s murder from zone west since he was not satisfied with the progress.

“Majeed’s application for transfer of the investigation has infuriated the police who were torturing him in one way or the other,” Mr Mir said.

Rejecting the police version as baseless about Mr Majeed’s escape from his residence, the counsel said his appearance was enough not only to prove the police claim as false but also his uprightness and innocence.

The court granted bail before arrest to Abdul Majeed against a surety bond of Rs200,000 and fixed Oct 27 for his re-appearance in the court in connection with the confirmation of his bail.