FAISALABAD, Sept 22: Additional District and Sessions Judge Sadaqatullah Khan Niazi on Thursday granted interim bail to suspended SP Abdullah Khalid in the Sonia Naz case.

The court directed police not to arrest Khalid till October 1 and ordered him to furnish a surety bond of Rs50,000.

In the bail application, the accused SP contended that the case had been registered on the basis of the conclusion arrived at by District and Session Judge Abdul Waheed Khan in respect of the inquiry of the Sonia Naz case and on the orders of the IG Punjab and police were out to arrest him.

He claimed that if he was arrested, he would suffer humiliation as the intended arrest was based on malafide intentions of police.

He further claimed that he was being victimized on the basis of baseless allegations levelled by Sonia Naz. The woman has alleged that she was repeatedly criminally assaulted by police officials while in custody.