ISLAMABAD: A special court on Wednesday granted bail to the journalist who was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) over his purported involvement in the leak of tax data of former army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s family members.

Special judge central Muhammad Azam Khan heard the post-arrest bail plea of journalist Shahid Aslam. The court after hearing arguments of both the defence and prosecution granted bail to Aslam against the surety bonds of Rs50,000.

The defence counsel told the court that a case has been registered in the FIA’s Anti-Corruption Circle regarding leaking tax record details of former COAS. His client has not been named in the First Information Report (FIR), he said. He requested the court to grant bail to his client in this case.

Special prosecutor Zulfiqar Naqvi, while objecting to the bail application, said that the suspect neither cooperated with investigators nor he provided the password of his laptop and mobile phone. The other accused who are government employees were arrested for violating 216, he said, adding that these government officials have named Shahid Aslam while recording their statement under section 161.

The court after hearing arguments of both the prosecution and defence counsels granted bail to Aslam.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023