PHC dismisses bail pleas in wheat scandal

33,000 sacks of wheat worth Rs198.5m had gone missing from Nowshera warehouse

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has dismissed the bail pleas of two Food Department officers in the wheat scandal case.

According to the court's written order, the accused had been posted at the Azakhel warehouse in Nowshera and, in collusion, had stolen 33,000 sacks of wheat.

As per the records, 1,730 metric tons of wheat had gone missing, causing a loss of Rs198.5 million to the national exchequer.

After an inquiry, the Anti-Corruption Department had registered a case against the accused.

In its judgment, the court remarked that since the accused had been on duty at the time, they could not be absolved of the charges related to the disappearance of the wheat. Both bail applications were, therefore, dismissed.

The court further ordered that both accused be kept in jail. Meanwhile, the PHC has accepted the provincial government's appeal against the acquittal of a murder case suspect who was accused of murdering his paternal grandmother and aunt in Mardan.

The court found the accused, Tanveer, guilty and awarded him two death penalties and a total fine of Rs1.1 million.

The fine will be paid as 'diyat' to the victims' heirs. In case of non-payment of the fine, Tanveer will serve an additional three months in prison.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmed and Justice Abdul Fayyaz heard the appeal filed by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government.

Additional Advocate General Sikandar Hayat Shah argued that Tanveer was accused of killing his grandmother and aunt on July 17, 2012 in Mardan.

Despite being acquitted by the trial court in 2013, the provincial government had filed an appeal against the decision. The additional advocate general informed the court that Tanveer had confessed to the crime before a local magistrate and that there was solid evidence supporting the charges.

He said Tanveer had brutally killed two women and therefore did not deserve any leniency, adding that the trial court had ignored several key legal points when delivering its verdict.

After hearing the arguments, the PHC passed a short order declaring the trial court's ruling null and void and pronouncing punishment on the accused.