ORDER SHEET

IN THE HIGH COURT OF SINDH, KARACHI

Cr.Bail Application No.439 of 2015

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Date Order with signature of Judge

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For hearing

14.07.2015

Mr. Altamash Arab,Advocate for Applicant

Mr. Shaikh Liaquat Hussain,DAG

I/O. Sub-Inspector Bilal, FIA is also present

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The petitioner has applied for post arrest bail in crime No.08/2015 under Section 419/420/468/471/109 PPC at P.S. FIA CBC Karachi.In the interim charge-sheet No.60/2015 submitted on 02^nd February 2015, the role of the present applicant has been defined that being Operation Manager in MCB Mariam Centre Branch, Karachi, he opened fake account No.1003083 dated 05.10.2010 in the name of Muhammad Iqbal son of Abdul Jalil. The account form was processed and accepted in absence of account holder and total inflow/outflow was Rs.590.67 Million.

2. Learned counsel for the applicant at the very outset argued that the co-accused against whom similar allegations have been leveled namely Waseeful Islam Siddiqui and Muhammad Mustafiz Khan have already been granted bail before arrest whereas the accused Muhammad Javed Akhtar who was arrested in the same crime also granted bail by the trial Court and keeping in view the rule of consistency, the present applicant is also entitled to be enlarged on bail. He further argued that in view of incriminating material collected by the I/O, the role of present applicant requires further inquiry.

3. Learned DAG with the assistance of the I/O refers to 161 Cr.P.C. statement of Muhammad Iqbal and Shujauddin. However, he conceded to that the co-accused have already been granted bail by the trial Court and allegations against them were also similar.

4. We have noted the allegations against the present accused which are reflecting from the charge sheet that he is involved in opening the fake account of Muhammad Iqbal but at the same time we have also considered the statement of Muhammad Iqbal recorded under Section 161 Cr.P.C. in which he stated that the bank documents are bearing his bogus signature in English whereas he always signs in Urdu. He further stated that he never visited bank for opening the account. Later he came to know that accused Yousuf Yaqoob Kolia, CEO/Director of M/s. Super Chemicals (Pvt.) Ltd, Landhi, Karachi opened the bogus account in his name with the connivance of his employees Muhammad Javed Akhtar, General Manager and Ramzan Ali outdoor Clerk of above company. He further stated that accused Yousuf Yaqoob has given threats to him for dire consequences several times to withdraw the statement from FIA otherwise, he will be removed from his job. This statement shows that Muhammad Iqbal is an employee of M/s. Super Chemicals (Pvt.) Ltd. We have also gone through the statement of Shujauddin and according to his statement, he was posted at MCB Mariam Centre, Karachi as Officiating Branch Manager on 22.11.2010 and took over the charge of Branch Manager from Waseem M. Hussain. As per bank record, the fake account of Muhammad Iqbal was opened on 06.10.2010 when Hassan Mehmood was Branch Manager, while the applicant was posted as Branch Operation Manager and Saad Qureshi was posted as Personal Bank Advisor. The signature of the above bank opening account was also admitted by the applicant and Saad Qureshi physically verified the customer address and visit report of the customer while Hussan Mehmood, the then Branch Manager supervised the account opening form.

5. After considering the entire incriminating material available on record, we are of the firm view that the role of the present accused requires further inquiry. It is also a fact that five co-accused are already on bail which fact is reflecting from the interim charge sheet dated 02.02.2015.

6. As a result of above discussion, the applicant is granted bail subject to furnishing solvent surety in the sum of Rs.2.5 Million and P.R. bond in the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial court.

The bail application is disposed of.

JUDGE

Faizan/