KARACHI, Aug 2: A division bench of the Sindh High Court reserved on Friday order on the bail application of a former captain of Pakistan hockey team, Mansoor Ahmad, who had been sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs2 million by an accountability court for removing silver from a custom warehouse.

The bench comprised Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Musheer Alam.

Counsel for the appellant, Iqtidar Hashmi, pleading for suspension of the sentence, said his client, who was posted at the warehouse for three months, was accused of misappropriating the missing silver over 21 years.

His contention was that it was a case of double jeopardy as his client was already facing trial in the same case in a custom court, but was also tried and sentenced by an accountability court.

Except for the star eyewitness, Arif Shah, who himself was an accused in the custom court, no one saw the appellant with silver, he submitted.

The thrust of Mr Hashmi’s contention was that the national hero was being subjected to such humiliation perhaps due to internal rivalries and malafide intentions. He also referred to various law points.

Aamir Raza Naqvi, representing the National Accountability Court, submitted that NAB had nothing to do with custom court case and cited the sections under which the case had been proceeded against Mr Mansoor before NAB and the custom court.

Contesting the point of view of the appellant’s counsel on eyewitnesses, Mr Naqvi submitted that the prosecution witness No 1 had stated that on one occasion he was called upon to enter the grill of the bonded area and help him to wrap up some material which was silver. He claimed that the prosecution witness No 2 was also a witness.

After hearing both sides, the court reserved the order with directions to the counsel to submit case laws on certain legal points, within two days.

chargesheet accepted: Justice Shabbir Ahmed of the High Court of Sindh, who is also the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts for Karachi, accepted on Friday chargesheet against Ataullah and Azam of the Lashkar-i- Jhangvi and entrusted the case trial to the ATC-4, adds APP.

The case pertains to the murder of Hamid Ali Rizvi, director, Star Television Channel, who was shot dead by unidentified men on 9-1-2001 in the limits of Clifton police.