RAWALPINDI, Dec 7: Two former officers of Rawalpindi police on Tuesday obtained interim bail from an anti-terrorism court in the assassination case of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Syed Saud Aziz, the former city police officer, and Khurram Shehzad, ex-SP, appeared before ATC-III Judge Rana Nisar Ahmed to avoid arrest after they were put on the disposal of the court by the FIA in their final investigation report.

The judge directed them to submit surety bonds worth Rs100,000 each and appear before the court on December 11, the next date of hearing.

The trial court on December 5 had issued their arrest warrants after they did not appear in the court. A joint team of FIA had informed the court that though they could not gather concrete evidence against the two officers, statements by different government servants hinted at their negligence.

The former police officers maintained before the court that they feared for their arrest and had not willfully avoided the court proceedings. They assured the court that they would not miss the next hearing of the case.

The investigators in their findings said: “Substantial evidence has been brought on record against Saud Aziz regarding his role in causing breach of security by withdrawing the police officer deputed for Benazir’s escort duty, destruction of evidence by ordering washing of the crime scene and avoiding to conduct the postmortem.”

Similarly, sufficient evidence has come on record against SP Khurram Shahzad for ordering washing of the crime scene which resulted in the destruction of evidence, it added.