PESHAWAR, June 25: A single member Peshawar High Court bench on Monday granted transit pre-arrest bail to former provincial minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Abdul Subhan Khan in a case about the murder of five people and directed him to appear before the relevant court in Mardan within a week.

The bail was granted by Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan during the hearing into the petition of the ex-minister, who is named in the murder case registered at Shahbaz Garhi police station in Mardan.

Mehnaz, who filed the case, alleged that Saeed Khan, Suleman and others gunned down her son, Abu Zar, and four other relatives on March 25, 2012 at the behest of ex-minister Subhan.

She alleged that her family had a blood feud with the said ex-minister, while around two years ago, a compromise had taken place between them but even then, the accused planned their murder.

Khwaja Mohammad Gara and FM Sabir appeared for the petitioner and said he was falsely implicated in the case.

They added that the petitioner belonged to respectable family and was a political figure. They requested the court to grant him the transit pre-arrest bail so that he could approach the relevant court in Mardan for filing proper pre-arrest bail petition there.

Also, the same bench granted bail to three brothers charged with the killing of their niece’s husband over honour.

It observed that keeping in view the evidence on record, the three, Mohammad Shah, Hussain Ali Shah and Nigar Shah, residents of Rajar in Charsadda district, were entitled to the concession of bail.

The petitioners were charged with the killing of Kashif, who was the husband of their niece, Zeenat, in the jurisdiction of Tarnab police station on October 8, 2011. The complainant in the case was Noor Alam, brother of the slain person. The complainant alleged that the niece of the accused had married his brother of her own free will around eight years ago over which her uncles were annoyed.

Masraf Gul, lawyer for the petitioners, said there was no evidence on record to link his clients with the commission of offence. He said if it was a case of honour killing, then the petitioners would have killed their niece first and her husband later, but in the instant case, the woman was not harmed, which proved that the motive given by the prosecution was wrong.