ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday approved former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and party’s Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s post-arrest bail in the cipher case against surety bonds of Rs1 million each.
A three-member bench, headed by interim Chief Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Athar Minallah, conducted the hearing.
On December 13, the PTI founder and vice-chairman were indicted in the cipher case again by the special court established under the Official Secrets Act 2023 after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared their jail trial null and void.
Both politicians have pleaded not guilty to their involvement in the offence related to the alleged misuse of diplomatic cable for political purposes.
During the court proceedings today, the top court also heard the petition against Khan and Qureshi’s October 23 indictment.
At the outset of the hearing, Justice Masood remarked that the indictment that was challenged was already nullified by the IHC on November 21.
As a result, Khan and Qureshi’s Oct 23 indictments in the case also stood null and void, and the trial was conducted again.
Justice Masood said that the fresh indictment will not be affected by the previous proceedings that were declared invalid by the IHC.
At this, the former PM’s counsel Hamid Khan argued that the trial was taking place on the previous charge sheet.
