PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday disposed of petitions of three senior police officers as the National Accountability Bureau withdrew their arrest warrants issued in connection with a high-profile case of alleged embezzlement in procurement of weapons for the police department.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Roohul Amin Khan Chamkani was told by NAB deputy prosecutor general Mohammad Jamil Khan that the three petitioners were willing to appear before an accountability court to face trial, which had already been in progress against two other prime accused persons in the case, and therefore, the warrants issued against them were withdrawn.

The petitioners included the then DIG (Headquarters) Peshawar, Dr Mohammad Suleman, the then AIG(Establishment) at CPO, Kashif Alam, and the then DIG (telecommunications) Sadiq Kamal Orakzai.

The bench directed that the petitioners should appear before the trial court and it would be up to that court to get surety bonds from these petitioners.

Muddasir Ameer and Aamir Jawed, counsel for the three petitioners, said their clients had filed the petitions after the NAB chairman issued warrants for their arrest last year.

They said the petitioners were willing to appear before the accountability court to face trial.

The lawyers said there was no evidence against the petitioners and therefore, they had the right to submit applications before the trial court under Section 265-K of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

They added that under the said section of the law, the trial court was empowered to acquit an accused before the conclusion of a trial when there was no possibility of his or her conviction in light of the available evidence.

DPG Jamil Khan said the NAB won`t object if the petitioners filed applications under Section 265-K of the CrPC.

The bench observed that it was the legal right of the petitioner to file such applications before thetrial court.

Khalid Mehmood appeared for another petitioner, Abdul Latif Gandapur, the former additional IGP Operation (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), and said he would consult his client before telling the court if he had any objection to the disposalofthe petition.

In the case, the NAB had also shown willingness to withdraw his arrest warrants provided he agreed to appear before the trial court.

The lawyers for the two senior police officers, including then commandant of Frontier Constabulary Abdul Majeed Marwat and DIG at Central Police Office Sajid Ali Khan, said they would defend their respective petitions.

They also challenged the issuance of arrest warrants against their clients by the NAB chairman last year.

The lawyers said the superior courts had already declared that the trial court had the powers to summon any accused mentioned in the reference.

They said in light of a recent Supreme Court judgment, once the trial court started trial in a reference, then the NAB chairman had no authority to issue arrest warrants of a suspect and that the said power could only be exercised by the trial court keep-ing in view the available evidence on record.

The names of the six petitioners were mentioned by the NAB in a reference filed before the accountability court, but the court had not summoned them for the framing of charges observing that their roles had not been spelt out in the reference.

The NAB claimed that the said six officers were members of purchase committee.

The trial court had first dismissed an application of the NAB for summoning the said six officers to face trial in Nov 2014 and subsequently on June 18, 2015, the trial court had again turned down the NAB plea making the same request.

Currently, former provincial police officer Malik Naveed Khan and budget officer of the police department Jawed Khan have been facing trial in the case.

An accountability court had indicted them on July 7, 2015, for receiving kickbacks from Arshad Majeed, a private contractor, who later turned approver in the case, and thus, inflicting a loss of Rs2.03 billion to the exchequer during the procurement of weapons and equipment for the police in 2009-10.

They had pleaded not guilty in the case.