Daily Times

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday granted bail to five policemen, arrested for their alleged negligence in Sheikhupura murder case, wherein eight people were killed.

The court ordered the policemen to furnish surety bonds of Rs100,000 each for availing the relief.

ATC Judge Ijaz Ahmad Buttar conducted the proceedings on bail application of the policemen and announced the verdict after hearing detailed arguments of the parties. The accused, former station house officer (SHO) Narang Abdul Wahab Khan, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Latif, ASI Mushtaq Qureshi, ASI Muhammad Rafi and ASI Amarul Hassan, had filed the post-arrest bail application.

The defence counsel argued before the court that all allegations levelled against his clients were baseless. He submitted that the court had sent the accused to jail on judicial remand and they were no longer required for the investigations. He pleaded with the court to grant the benefit of bail to his clients.

However, the prosecution opposed the bail plea, saying that the accused committed negligence.

Former SHO Narang Abdul Wahab Khan and four other policemen were arrested for not taking timely action against the accused when he tried to attack another citizen four days before the incident.

The suspect Faiz Rasool had been detained by police just days earlier after attempting to attack another citizen with an axe. Police eventually released the suspect after his family pleaded that he suffered from mental illness.

Later, on October 8, the accused murdered eight men in and around Hachar village in Sheikhupura.