Manhandling: MNA’s son granted pre-arrest bail

He allegedly assaulted an official of the SIDA

HYDERABAD: The Sindh High Court granted pre-arrest bail to Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Fakiq Sher Muhammad Bilalani's son in a case pertaining to the assault on an official of the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority.

Fakir Faiz Muhammad alias Raja Bilalani, who was a union council Nazim, and his three associates were booked in an FIR lodged by SIDA's sub-divisional officer Imtiaz Soomro. The case was lodged at Naukot police station with Abdul Kareem Tangari, Ameer Hassan Tangari and Muhammad Saleem Bhan cited as the co-accused. Soomro alleged that the nominated suspects beat him.

"They forced me to open water supply in the Bilalani minor [irrigation canal] although it was supposed to remain shut as per the schedule," the official told the local media after registering the FIR. He later left for Hyderabad for treatment.

Raja Bilalani in a press conference in Naukot on Wednesday said the allegation was baseless and politically motivated. "I was on the way to my farmhouse from Mithi [in the Tharparkar district] when I came to know over the phone about the attack by some farmers on the SDO," he claimed. Meanwhile, the SHC Hyderabad circuit bench on Thursday granted 10-day pre-arrest bail to Bilalani and the three other suspects against a surety of Rs50,000 submitted by each of them.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2015.