Pindi Ring Road scam accused bail pleas dismissed

LAHORE: An anti-corruption court on Tuesday dismissed post-arrest bails of former commissioner Rawalpindi and project director (PD) Rawalpindi Ring Road Project Muhammad Mahmood and land acquisition Collector Abbas Tabish, accused in multi-billion Rawalpindi Ring Road scam.

Both the accused had moved for bail in special court judge Raja Muhammad Arshad. However, the court dismissed their bails. The court’s order stated that during the investigation the accused were found involved in the case; sufficient incriminating material is available against the accused and reasonable grounds do exist to believe that the accused were involved in the case.

The alleged offence under section 409 of the PPC does fall within the prohibition of section 497 CrPC, therefore, the accused are not entitled to post-arrest bail, resultantly, the bail application of the accused has been dismissed, the court order read. According to Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab, former commissioner Rawalpindi Muhammad Mahmood changed the alignment of the Ring Road which was approved

by the then government in 2018, which increased the cost of the project and also the price of land.