Nine K-Electric officials granted bail before arrest

Bail pleas of seven other arrested officials rejected by another court

KARACHI: Nine senior officials of K-Electric were granted bail before arrest by an additional sessions judge on Tuesday in the case that cost a young boy his two arms after being burned by high tension wires.

The officials, fearing detention in the case of negligence against the power utility company, requested the Malir additional sessions judge Shafa Muhammad Pirzada for interim bail before arrest. All nine officials have been nominated in the case, in which seven others are already in judicial custody.



The officials who were granted the bail were identified as general manager for maintenance Riaz Ahmed Nizamani, deputy general manager Zameer Ahmed Sheikh, shift in-charge Imran Aslam, DGM Saqib Abbas, manager for maintenance Nisar Ahmed, supervisor Arsalan, shift in-charge Syed Shah Nawaz, assistant engineer Raza Hussain Rizvi and shift engineer Shaukat Mangi.

During the hearing, the officials' lawyers said that they were not named in the FIR but they wanted to face it. Approving the interim bail at Rs30,000 per person, the court issued notices to investigation officer and prosecutor. The case is registered at the Super Highway Police Station.

Bail rejected

Meanwhile, a District Malir judicial magistrate rejected the bail plea of seven employees of K-Electric, who were arrested for their alleged involvement in the case.

The court summoned the case challan and sent the suspects to jail on judicial remand.

The suspects' lawyer opposed the physical remand, claiming that that the progress report hadn't been presented by the investigation officer nor had they submitted the interrogation diary of the suspects in the court.

The IO maintained that it was a serious crime and that four other suspects had also been arrested in the case. Prosecutor Muhammad Ali said that the IO was still conducting the investigation and that the arrested suspects were being interrogated. He sought time for the IO to present the diary in the court.



The court directed the IO to furnish the report by 3pm. However, the IO failed to produce a progress report by the time. At this point, the suspects' lawyer pleaded that there was no evidence against his clients and that they should be released on bail. The prosecutor argued, however, that as the investigation was still under way, the suspects could not be released until the challan was submitted in court. The court rejected the bail plea and ordered all the suspects to be sent to jail custody, besides directing the IO to submit the challan.

On July 25th, eight-year-old Muhammad Umar had lost both his arms after being burned due to electric shocks from a high tension wire near his home in Ahsanabad. The suspects nominated in the FIR are employees of K-Electric, who stand accused of negligence and waste of human organs. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2018.