Imran submits surety bonds for pre-arrest bail in four cases

Three bonds worth Rs100,000 each submitted before ATC, fourth before LHC

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) and an anti-terrorism court (ATC) accepted surety bonds submitted by former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday for pre-arrest bail in four cases registered against him.

Imran first appeared before the ATC, where he has three cases registered against him pertaining to arson, ransacking of Jinnah House and creating a law and order situation.

Security at the court premises was stringent and the former premier refused to speak to the media during his visit to the court.

After the ATC, Imran reached the LHC’s additional registrar’s office to submit a surety bond for pre-arrest bail in a case pertaining to the distortion and withholding of evidence in the case of the alleged murder of a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) worker, Zille Shah.

The LHC had granted Imran pre-arrest bail earlier with the instruction to submit surety bonds.

The ATC had also granted Imran pre-arrest bail earlier on May 19 in the three cases registered against him at the Sarwar Road Police Station, Gulberg Police Station and Shadman Town Police Station. The court had directed him to submit surety bonds worth Rs100,000 for each of the three cases while granting pre-arrest bail till June 2.

The court had, however, refused to accept surety bonds submitted on behalf of the premier by a guarantor, who claimed to be a sweeper at Imran’s residence.

The guarantor, Shehroze, had appeared before ATC Judge Ijaz Ahmad Buttar to submit the amount but was unable to assure the court of accepting responsibility in case the deposed premier failed to appear before the court. Subsequently, the judge refused to accept the surety bonds submitted by the guarantor and directed Imran to appear himself.