MUZAFFARABAD, Nov 23: A single member bench of the AJK Supreme Court here on Monday dismissed the petition for leave to appeal of a revenue department official arrested by the Ehtesab Bureau for his alleged involvement in a corruption case.

Tehsil Sensa (district Kotli) Assistant Commissioner was arrested for embezzling Rs650,000 while serving as a collector of land acquisition in Muzaffarabad district, between 2001 and 2003.

His bail plea was rejected by the High Court against which he had sought leave to appeal in the Supreme Court. However, the apex court bench comprising acting chief justice Khawaja Mohammad Saeed dismissed it in limine.

The bureau had unearthed an embezzlement of Rs5.364 million committed in the Land Acquisition Collector's Office during 2001-03 and following the detection of the fraud, cases were registered against four collectors, Salim Akhtar Awan, Mohammad Hussain, Abdul Khaliq Banday and Khawaja Abdul Qayyum and a clerk Sudhir Mughal.

Mr Awan was also arrested but got bail from the high court after depositing the embezzled money in one case. However, the bureau later found more cases involving Mr Awan and moved the court for cancellation of his bail.

The remaining accused had already obtained the pre-arrest bail and a bureau spokesman told Dawn that they had also moved the court for cancellation of their bail before arrest.