ISLAMABAD: A local court, on Thursday, declared as “null and void”, the orders declaring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur “proclaimed offender” in a case of possession of illegal arms and liquor.

District and Sessions Court Judge Shahrukh Arjumand, while hearing a review petition of Ghandpur, nullified the trial court’s order.

A trial court had declared Gandapur an absconder for evading the law in the case registered against him in Bhara Kahu 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.

Ghandpur’s counsel Raja Zahoorul Hassan and prosecutor Muhammad Salman Khan appeared before the court.

The defense counsel told the court that his client could not appear before it due to his official engagements as the new Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister. He also filed an application seeking one-day exemption for his client from personal appearance before it.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister’s counsel said that the trial court had declared Gandapur a proclaimed absconder. He said that Gandapur had not received the court’s summons due to non-compliance by the process server.

The court after hearing arguments accepted Ghandpur’s request and directed his lawyer to submit surety bonds worth Rs 50,000.

The court then remanded the case back to the trial court while nullifying its orders and adjourned the hearing till March 14.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024