KARACHI, Nov 8 The Sindh High Court on Monday granted pre-arrest interim bail to former chairman of the National Highway Authority retired Maj-Gen Raja Farrukh Javed and NHA general manager Mohammad Yousuf Barakzai, who had managed to escape from the City Courts after the rejection of their pre-arrest bail pleas by a session court in the Shershah bridge collapse case.

Five people were killed, 14 others injured and six vehicles damaged when a portion of the Shershah flyover collapsed on Sept 1, 2007.

A total of nine accused were booked in an FIR lodged on April 7 on the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan regarding the Shershah bridge collapse case.

Justice Zahid Hamid gave the two accused interim bail in the sum of Rs1.5 million each till Nov 23.

NHA chairman Chaudhry Altaf Ahmed, Khalid Mirza, a director of M/s Engineering Consultants International Limited, and NHA's former member planning Syed Najamul Hassan were arrested on Saturday after a sessions court dismissed their pre-arrest bail applications.

Accused Farrukh Javed and Barakzai, represented by advocates Omer Farouk Adam and Shaukat Hayat, respectively, fled the court after the dismissal of their pre-arrest bail applications.

A case (FIR 181/2010) was registered against the suspects under Sections 322 (punishment for qatl-bis-sabab), 431 (mischief by injury to public road, bridge, river or channel), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and 337-H (punishment for hurt by rash or negligent act) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the SITE police station on the directives of the apex court.