Rana Sanaullah’s post-arrest bail plea dismissed

LAHORE (92 News) – A special court for Control of Narcotics Substance in Lahore on Friday dismissed the bail plea of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Rana Sanaullah Khan in a narcotics smuggling case. Rana Sanaullah Khan was presented before anti-narcotics court today amid strict security arrangements for hearing bail plea in narcotic smuggling case. Meanwhile, the anti-narcotics court approved the bail of five co-accused, namely Usman, Anwar, Umar Farooq, Rustum Ali and Sibtain. During the hearing of bail plea, the prosecutor appealed before the court that Rana Sanaullah couldn’t be granted bail on medical grounds as he was getting treatment inside jail. Rana Sanaullah’s lawyer argued that ANF which is a complainant in the case against his client had become a witness itself. He recalled former president Asif Ali Zardari was booked in a case similar to the one the PML-N leader has been facing. The counsel stated that ANF had failed to present any concrete evidence against his client and added that Rana Sana himself was not informed about the reason behind his arrest when he was taken into custody. He said the PML-N leader had suffered a paralysis attack two months before his arrest and that he has been forced to sleep on a mat in jail. Besides, he is not being provided with the food recommended by his doctors. In the previous hearing, at the outset of the hearing, a prosecutor presented footage of a CCTV camera showing vehicle of Rana Sanaullah entering and exiting the motorway. Defence counsel Advocate Azam Nazir Tarar pointed out that the video showed the vehicle only and not the passengers. He urged the court to summon more videos from the prosecution, if it possessed, including that of the arrest operation. However, the prosecutor stated there was no other video except the one presented before the court. At this, the defence counsel argued the court should summon video record of the cameras of Safe City Authority as the footage presented by the prosecution was few seconds long and did not show the journey of Mr Khan from the point of arrest to the ANF office. The court directed the ANF to also grab footage of the Safe City Authority’s cameras. Earlier, Anti Narcotics Force Court Duty Judge Khalid Bashir extended the judicial remand of PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah in a drugs recovery case till September 28. Talking to the media after the case hearing on Saturday, Rana Sanaullah said that the PML-N will not strike a deal with the government at any costs. “The drug case is 100 percent false and will prove to be false,” he said. Counsel for Rana Sanaullah told court that their arguments had been completed before the transferred judge. The court remarked a duty judge could only hear the urgent cases. At this, the counsel contended that no case could be urgent more than a bail plea. “The ANF has not so far provided us the footage of the arrest,” he said. The counsel requested the court to give a short date for next hearing.