GUJRANWALA, March 18: The Anti-Terrorism Court No 1 accepted on Thursday the interim bail of the Elite Force's three constables in the Sialkot jail incident. The judge, Syed Iftikhar Husain Shah, ordered Inamullah, Sher Ahmad and Qaiser Mahmood to deposit surety bonds worth Rs50,000 each.

It is reported that all police officials involved in the case, including former Gujranwala DIG Malik Muhammad Iqbal, former Sialkot DPO Amjad Javed Saleemi, Gujrat DPO Raja Munawar Husain and inspector Zulfiqar Ali Virk, have already got their interim bails from the court.

However, former Sialkot jail deputy superintendent Malik Iftikhar Ahmad is still at large. The court adjourned the case till March 30.

CIRCUS FIRE: The ATC No 1 continued the hearing of circus fire case against the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal activists and issued warrant for the arrest of circus general-manager Muhammad Husain, a complainant in the case, on Thursday.

The suspects, including Jamaat-i-Islami SVP Hafiz Hamiduddin Awan, were present in court. The judge adjourned the case till March 21.

DEATH SENTENCE: A local court handed down death sentence and Rs50,000 fine to a murder convict on Thursday. According to the prosecution, Muhammad Zahid killed Sohail Rehman over an enmity on Nov 6, 2003.

Robbers Held: A Rescue-15 squad arrested on Thursday two robbers, who were fleeing with cash and valuables they had plundered from two journalists.

Reports said two journalists of a local Urdu daily, Dr Omar Nasir and Shafqat, were on their way to their office from the District Headquarters Hospital when two armed men stopped them on the Kutchery Road.

They snatched Rs2,300 in cash, mobile phone sets and press cards from the newsmen and drove away their motorcycle (GAP-753). Receiving information, a Rescue-15 squad hurried to the spot and surrounded the robbers, who opened fire. This led to an exchange of fire after which one of the suspects surrendered himself while his associate was chased and arrested.

They were identified as Habib Malik and Imran Butt, who confessed their crime during interrogation. The police also recovered the booty from their possession and instituted a case against them.

JUDICIAL INQUIRY: The district and sessions judge ordered on Thursday a judicial inquiry against the Ladheywala police officials for arresting a man and implicating him. The judge inducted judicial magistrate Muhammad Irfan Sindhu an inquiry officer.

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