KARACHI The Sindh High Court on Monday granted protective bail to Moonis Elahi, son of former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi, against a surety of Rs 0.7 million in the National Insurance Corporation Limited (NICL) scam case. A division bench, comprising Justice Ghulam Sarwar Korai and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazha, after hearing arguments from both the sides granted the plea for three weeks. The applicant approached the SHC to seek transitory or protective pre-arrest bail to avoid a possible arrest in Sindh after red-warrants were issued for his arrest in the NICL scam case. On behalf of the applicant, Akhtar Hussain advocate argued that his client was being victimised politically by a rival party that was trying to implicate him in fake cases. He said Moonis Elahis name was placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) by the FIA on the order of apex court. Moonis Elahi is in Dubai for his business engagements and wants to face the allegations while appearing before a trail court. According to the prosecution, the FIA Lahore has registered two cases in the scam, and arrested 12 people including former NICL chairman Ayaz Khan Niazi and former minister Habibullah Warraich, under sections 409, 420, 468, 471, 109 of the PPC and Section 5 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947. According to the FIR, Warraichs company, Messrs Privilege, purchased a plot measuring 803 kanal from the NICL at Mauza Toor, Lahore, for Rs1.68 billion in February last year. It transpired that the corporation had sold the land without getting the land mutated in its favour. This is a serious breach of financial discipline and a major irregularity, it says. The NICL sold land measuring 20 kanal on Lahore Airport Road to Mohsin Warraich for Rs1.7 billion. It sold the land at a rate of Rs 53 million per kanal, though its market value was much higher. Meanwhile, the same bench served notice on interior ministry, home department and heads of intelligence agencies in a petition against missing person, for March 9. Hearing a constitutional petition filed by a woman, Fatima Ramzan, seeking whereabouts of her husband, the court summoned the respondents seeking explanation regarding abduction of a citizen from his house in 2002. The petitioner submitted that some unknown armed people entered her house located in Ghulistan-e-Johar on February, 11, 2002, posing themselves as KESC employees, and took her husband away. Since then no information or report had been received from police about his whereabouts, she said. The applicant believed the abductors were personnel of intelligence agencies in plainclothes. Despite the fact we approached the local police station and higher police-ups to launch his abduction case but they refused to do so, the petitioner stated. She submitted if there was any crime charge against him he should be brought before court of justice, but instead he had been kept in the custody of intelligence agencies illegally. Citing secretary interior, Sindh home department secretary, DGs of ISI, IB, and Sindh IG police, CCPO, Ghulshan-e-Iqbal TPO and Ghulistan-e-Johar SHO, the petitioner pleaded to issue directives to locate the whereabouts of her husband. Yet in another case, an LHC bench consisting of Justice Ather Saeed and Justice Irfan Sahadat ordered Sindh secretary education department to appear in person in a contempt of court application. After hearing arguments from the petitioners side, the court issued directives to the respondent to appear before the court on March 2 to submit his comments. The contempt of court application was moved by Professor Yasin Khan seeking his promotion according to law. The applicant submitted that on his petition a high court bench had issued an order to promote him to the next grade, but the respondent did not comply with the courts order so far.