' The petitioner seeks bail after arrest in case F.I.R. No.363 of 2004 registered on 24-8-2004 in Police Station Chuchak, District Okara under sections 302, 148 and 149, P.P.C.
2. The F.I.R. Was lodged on 24-8-2004 by one Manzoor son of Shera who had found a naked piece of a dead body lying in a Nala. It was stated by him in the F.I.R. That it appeared that some unknown person had killed the deceased and had thrown the dead body in the Nala after cutting it into pieces. It appears that subsequently on 28-8-2004 one Abbas Ali son of Ahmad Ali, the father of Haq Nawaz deceased in his statement under section 161, Cr.P.C. Implicated the petitioner and others in the said case.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner has stated that the petitioner was implicated in this case on the basis of an alleged extrajudicial confession of the petitioner and which is admittedly a weak type of evidence; that statement of the co-accused of the petitioner under section 164, Cr.P.C.
Cannot be used against the petitioner; that no incriminating article was recovered from the petitioner; that the petitioner was involved in this case with a mala fide intention as there existed some disputes between him and his opponents; that the case was investigated thoroughly by the D.S.P. (Investigation) Okara and who found the petitioner innocent in this case; that the case of the petitioner is clearly one of further enquiry and he is thus entitled to the concession of bail.
4. The bail application has been resisted by the learned counsel for the father of the deceased and the learned counsel for the State on the ground that the father of the deceased namely Abbas Ali was present at his Dera when Dost Muhammad petitioner and his co-accused had arrived there in Car No.4972-P Karachi and Dost Muhammad had told him that they were to proceed to their lawyer at Sahiwal as a case was pending against them before the Anti-Terrorism Court at Lahore and the lawyer was to be instructed to prepare himself for the case and thus the petitioner and his co-accused had asked him i.e., Abbas Ali to send his son Haq Nawaz with him and as such Haq Nawaz had accompanied them and when he did not return, they started searching for him and it was on 27-8-2004 that Dost Muhammad admitted before them that they had done away with the deceased as a result of pre-planning; that although there is no direct evidence about the occurrence of murder, yet there is strong circumstantial evidence against the petitioner in addition to the evidence of extra-judicial confession and he is thus not entitled to the concession of bail.
5. I have carefully considered the arguments advanced from both sides.
6. Admittedly there is no direct evidence available with the prosecution about the occurrence of murder and the evidence available with them is that of the extra-judicial confession of the petitioner and which obviously is considered a weak type of evidence. As mentioned above, the case was investigated by a senior police officer i.e. D.S.P. (Investigation), Okara and who found the petitioner namely Dost Muhammad to be innocent in this case. Although, the opinion of the Investigating Officer is not binding on the Court, yet it can be taken into consideration at the bail stage. The aforesaid finding of the Investigating Officer is sufficient to make it a case of further enquiry into the guilt of the petitioner. On the basis of the authorities reported as Liaqat Ali v. The State (1998 M LD 2059) and Rasool Bakhsh v. The State (2003 PCr.LJ 119 Lahore), the petitioner is entitled to the concession of bail. Therefore, this bail application is accepted and the petitioner namely Dost Muhammad is admitted to bail in the sum of Rs.50,000 with two sureties in the like amount, to the satisfaction of the learned trial Court.