LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart Rana Sanaullah’s request for bail was dismissed by a special court, but Five other suspects were granted bail in an anti-narcotics case on Friday.On July 1, ANF officials arrested Sanaullah, who served as the Punjab law minister during the PML-N government, from the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway near Sukheki, while he was travelling from Faisalabad to Lahore. It was alleged that the ANF recovered heroin and other drugs from his vehicle.Duty Judge Khalid Bashir conducted the proceedings on the bail petitions filed by Sanaullah and the others on Friday. Advocates Farhad Ali Shah and Zahid Bukhari, on behalf of the accused, argued that the case was registered “after a delay of three hours” whereas the police station was located at a drive of “20 minutes only”.They said it was a case of further inquiry as the registration of the first information report (FIR) after three hours made it “suspicious”. They requested the court to grant Sanaullah bail until the investigation into the matter is complete. They further said the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) did not have footage of Sanaullah’s arrest, “so there is no reason to keep him behind bars”. The counsels also argued that Sanaullah was suffering from “respiratory and other diseases”, and home-cooked food was not being provided to him in the jail.The ANF prosecutor opposed the request, arguing that the defence counsel gave “political statements” instead of arguing on the case’s merits. He said the ANF had “solid evidence” against the former Punjab law minister.He also said it was not correct that the case was registered after a delay of three hours. He added that the case had 14 memos and “more than an hour” was required to write them. He further argued that “all medical facilities” were available to Rana Sanaullah in jail and bail could not be granted on medical grounds in such cases.He added that after Sanaullah’s arrest, a “clash” began and his guards “pointed guns at the officials”. However, the matter was “handled professionally and not even a single bullet was fired”, he added.After hearing arguments of the parties, the court dismissed the bail petition of Rana Sanaullah but granted bail to Muhammad Akram, Sibtain Haider, Usman Ahmad, Amir Rustum and Umer Farooq. The ANF has already filed interim charge sheet in the special court for the Control of Narcotic Substances against Sanaullah.
09-21-2019, 09:47 AM
Five get bail, Rana Sana?s plea tossed out
العرض العادي
