Through this petition under Section 498, Cr.P.C. The petitioner has sought pre-arrest bail in case FIR No.434/2014 dated 10.10.2014 under Section 462-E, PPC, registered at Police Station Narang Mandi, District Sheikhupura.
2. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have also gone through the record of this case with their able assistance. This is bail before arrest which is an extraordinary remedy and only tentative assessm ent is allowed at this stage. Admittedly the FIR was recorded on the written application of Respondent No.2 who is Admin Officer of SNGPL and delay in such like cases is not fatal to the prosecution as a Government department has become complainant against the present petitioner. It has been noticed by this court that the petitioner is named in the FIR with specific role of stealing gas after tempering the meter. The petitioner has been found involved not only by the Investigation Officer of this case but also the prosecution witnesses have got recorded their statements under Section 161, Cr.P.C. Involving the petitioner in this case. The SNGL has also issued deduction bill of Rs.95,28,922/-and other arrears total Rs.3,11,12,470/- which the petitioner has yet to pay which prima facie shows that the petitioner is involved in the theft of Sui Gas. Petitioner is the owner of the CNG Station which was found stealing S.1 Gas. The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner that petitioner has no concern with the theft of Sui-Gas as he has rented his CNG Station to Zaman (since dead) on 15.04.2014 has got no force as admittedly the petitioner has not obtained NOC from the SNGL before giving the SNG Station on rent which is mandatory. The offence with which the petitioner is charged falls under the prohibitory clause of Section 497, Cr.P.C.
The petitioner has also failed to prove any mala fide on the part of the complainant who is employee of SNGPL to falsely implicate him in this case which is basic ingredient for grant of pre- arrest bail.
3. For what has been discussed above, no ground is available to the petitioner for the grant of bail before arrest, hence this petition has got no force and the same is hereby dismissed. The ad- interim pre-arrest bail already allowed to the petitioner vide this Court's order dated 27.11.2015 is hereby recalled.
4. The observations made above are tentative in nature and are strictly confined to the decision of this bail petition only.