Gandapur gets relief from court in illegal arms, liquor case

ISLAMABAD: A local court in Islamabad on Thursday sent the case of illegal arms and liquor against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur back to the trial court while overturning orders declaring the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader a "proclaimed offender".

A trial court had declared Gandapur an absconder for evading the law in the case registered against him in Barakahu Police Station after the recovery of five Kalashnikov rifles, a pistol, six magazines, a bullet-proof vest, three teargas shells, and bottles of alcohol in 2016.

District and Sessions Court Judge Shahrukh Arjumand nullified the trial court's order over a review petition filed by Gandapur.

The petitioner's lawyer informed the court that Gandapur couldn't appear in court due to his official engagements as the new KP CM. He requested the court to exempt Gandapur from the proceedings for today.

The lawyer stated that the trial court had declared Gandapur a proclaimed absconder for continuously skipping the proceedings in the case. He said that Gandapur hadn't received the court's summons due to non-compliance by the process server, designated for delivering the legal documents.

Accepting the request, the sessions judge directed the lawyer to submit surety bonds worth Rs50,000 on Gandapur's behalf and present a local person as the guarantor.

The court then remanded the case back to the trial court while overturning its orders declaring Gandapur an absconder and adjourned the hearing till March 14.

Gandapur, then-provincial minister in KP, was charged under the illegal arms and anti-drugs laws after illicit arms and a bottle of liquor were recovered from his car in October 2016.