MULTAN-Cleric Mufti Abdul Qavi, a nominated accused in social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch murder case was released from Central Jail Multan as District and Sessions Court granted him post-arrest bail against Rs200,000 surety bonds on Tuesday.
Mufti was received by a large number of his followers and relatives. The cleric looked reluctant in talking to the media, saying he would talk about jail and police in detail tomorrow. “For the time being I’ll only say Punjab Police Zindabad,” he added.
The hearing of the case took place at New Judicial Complex in the court of District and Sessions Judge Ameer Muhammad Khan and the counsel for the cleric argued that Aslam Shaheen, Qandeel’s brother and a nominated accused in the case, had been granted bail while his client is being deprived of the legal right. He added that Mufti is being accused on the basis of a mysterious call received from Saudi Arabi while the results of polygraph test have no legal substance.
Earlier on Monday, the district and sessions court had adjourned the hearing of Mufti’s bail application for one day due to the absence of the lawyer.
The cleric, who was arrested by police on October 18 while trying to flee after cancellation of his bail, was indicted into the case under sections 302 and 109 on the request of Qandeel’s father, Muhammad Azeem. The social media celebrity was strangled by her real brother on July 16, 2016 in the name of honour. Although the murderer Waseem confessed to his crime, police suspected that Mufti provoked him to commit this crime.