Judge says Dar presented medical reports to prolong case

ISLAMABAD: Accountability court judge Muhammad Bashir, in his order of Dec-11, remarked that when all medical reports were kept together, it appeared that the reports of Ranjit Deshpande are procured with the purpose of prolonging the case.

Finance Minister on-leave Ishaq Dar presented the medical reports of an Indian Dr Ranjit Deshpande, one of the leading heart surgeons at London Bridge Hospital.

The accountability court judge believes that Dar was relying on the medical report to deliberately avoid court appearance in connection with a reference of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The judge added that Dr Christopher Baker categorically observed in his medical report that there was no disease of ischaemia to the accused while Dr Ranjit Deshpande is of different opinion. The order read that Dr Deshpande conducted many tests and could not point out any such disease.

The judge said: "In the above circumstances, the accused is not appearing before the court deliberately and avoiding execution of warrants," The details surfaced from the detailed order through which the court declared Dar a proclaimed offender and decided to conduct trial in his absence.

While rejecting defence counsel Qausain Faisal Mufti's request to grant exemption from personal appearance and his argument that NAB was yet to verify the medical reports, the judge stated that "it is presumed that reports were issued by the doctors who purportedly issued those reports".