Arms, liquor recovery case: KP CM Gandapur's arrest warrant suspended

ISLAMABAD: The non-bailable arrest warrant for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in arms and liquor recovery case suspended by an Islamabad trial court.

The trial court suspended the arrest warrant following an “assurance” from the chief minister’s counsel.

The development comes hours after the Peshawar High Court (PHC) approved Gandapur’s transitory bail petition.

A two-member bench — comprising Justice Arshad Ali and Justice Shahid Khan —directed him to appear before the relevant courts.

The bail petition was filed this morning wherein the provincial chief executive requested the high court to grant transitory bail so that he could appear in the relevant court in the said case.

A day earlier, Civil Judge Shaista Khan Kundi ordered the Barakahu station house officer (SHO) to arrest Gandapur and produce him before the court noting that the case had been called thrice since morning and the suspect still had not shown up.

Representing the chief minister, lawyer Raja Zahoorul Hasan said he would submit a medical report about Gandapur as he was unwell. Whereas, the counsel's assistant Fatahullah Burki said that the chief minister could not turn up before the court due to the situation of floods.

The court then adjourned the case till today.

Later, Barakahu police received the provincial chief executive's arrest warrant with the court directing the SHO to ensure immediate compliance.

Providing a copy of the arrest warrant to Gandapur's lawyers, Islamabad police said that the CM House had been informed as well in this regard.

Today's petition comes after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) firebrand leader moved a sessions court in the federal capital against the judicial magistrate's order on Wednesday.

The plea argues that a petition for the CM's acquittal is already pending and the orders issued by the judicial magistrate were against the law.

Gandapur urged the court to declare the non-bailable arrest warrant null and void and accept his request for review of the court's decision.

What's the case?

A case was lodged against the PTI leader after the recovery of five Kalashnikov rifles, a pistol, six magazines, a bullet-proof vest, three teargas shells, and bottles of alcohol in October 2016.

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

A local court in Islamabad on March 7 this year overturned the trial court orders declaring KP CM Gandapur a "proclaimed offender" in the said case registered against him in Bharakahu police station.

Earlier, a trial court had declared Gandapur an absconder for evading the law in the case.

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

The petitioner's lawyer had informed the court that Gandapur couldn't appear in court because of his official engagements as the new KP chief minister. He had requested the court to exempt Gandapur from the proceedings hearing that day.

The lawyer had said that the trial court had declared Gandapur a proclaimed absconder for continuously skipping the proceedings in the case. He had 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 had directed the lawyer to submit surety bonds worth Rs50,000 on Gandapur's behalf and present a local person as the guarantor.

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