LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday granted post-arrest bail to Sialkot Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue (ADCR) Muhammad Iqbal Sanghera in a case registered by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE).

The ACE registered the case against the officer on charges of demanding and receiving a bribe by threatening to reject the no objection certificate (NOC) of a housing society.

A counsel for the petitioner termed the allegations baseless and fabricated. He argued that the office of the revenue commissioner had no authority to cancel an NOC of any housing society.

The lawyer further submitted that the officer had been unlawfully incarcerated for four months. He said there was no need to keep the petitioner behind bars as the investigation had been completed.

A prosecutor opposed the bail plea, saying the ADCR had received bribes amounting to more than Rs193.3 million from the owner of the housing society. He stated that the suspect also spent Rs800,000 on a trip to Dubai, for which receipts in the suspect’s name were available.

After hearing both sides, Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry allowed bail to the ADCR subject to furnishing surety bonds worth Rs1 million.

During the remand proceedings, the ACE had claimed to have recovered a luxury SUV, a Rolex watch, and files for two commercial plots from the suspect’s possession. It also recovered Rs1.47m of bribe money from the suspect.

The investigating officer further said that the suspect, being “extremely clever and cunning”, had been using various excuses and tactics.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2025