KARACHI: Four lawmakers and three councillors belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf were on Monday indicted in a rioting case by a judicial magistrate.

The lawmakers MNA Dr Arif Alvi, MPAs Khurram Sherzaman, Samar Ali Khan and Dr Seema Zia along with the three councillors and some area residents have been booked for allegedly storming the office of the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) in April and threatening the staff during a protest demonstration against imposition of a new tax on supply of water through tankers. The protesters had demanded that water be supplied through pipelines.

Judicial magistrate (South) Nazish Naz read out the charges against the accused. They pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.

The court summoned all prosecution witnesses on Sept 19.

A case was registered under Sections 147 (rioting), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecutionof common object), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of a CBC of ficial at the Darakhshan police station.

Also on Monday, a two-judge bench of the Sindh High Court confirmed the interim pre-arrest bail granted to Dr Arif Alvi.

Gold smuggling case A Customs court sentenced a couple and their daughter to a period of detention they had already undergone when they entered a guilty plea in a gold smuggling case on Monday.

Customs officials had arrested Mohammad Imran, his wife Anila and their daughter Maheen at the Jinnah International Airport on Aug 14 when they arrived from Dubai.

They allegedly recovered 4.5 kilograms of gold jewellery and 11,900 assorted memory cards from their possession.

As the suspects pleaded guilty, a judge of Customs and taxation court took a lenient view and treated the period they spent in custody asimprisonment.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs300,000 each and in case of default they would have to undergo two months in prison.

They were bool(ed under the Customs Act, 1969 and Import and Export (Control) Act, 1950.

FIA report in PSM graft case rejected An anti-corruption court threw out a report of the Federal Investigation Agency seeking exoneration of two senior ofñcials of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) in a case pertaining to misappropriation in procurement of medicine supplies.

PSM general manager Nusrat Islam Butt, in-charge facilities in the medical department Dr Mustansar Gilani, former director Hamid Pervez, chief medical officer Dr Abdul Qadir Soomro and others have been booked for allegedly embezzling millions of rupees while procuring medicines for the PSM hospital.

Initially, the FIAhad chargesheeted all the suspects in an interim investigation report Kled through the Erst investigating officer last December.

However, another IO filed the final investigation report a couple of weeks ago stating that GM Butt and ex-director Pervez were not being chargesheeted since there was no evidence against them.

However, a federal anticorruption court rejected the report and observed that the IO did not place any convincing and cogent material for not sending the two suspects for trial.

Therefore, the case shall proceed againstallthe suspects as per interim charge-sheet since the court had already taken cognizance of it.

According to the prosecution, an inquiry was initiated in 2014 on the complaint of a firm supplying medicine and during investigations it transpired that the officials were involved in embezzling millions of rupees while procuring medicines for the PSM hospital.

It added that the complainant firm had been supplying medicine and medical items to the PSM since 2007 through contract agreements and in 2014 it also offered highest offer, but the suspectsgotthe tender proceedings scrapped and got a budget of Rs10 million approved for purchase and Rs3m was used for purchase through imprest account; Rs7m was used through the spot purchase cell of the PSM.

However, this provision of budget rose to over Rs25m and most purchases were made from unregistered sellers of medicines without completing formalities, the FIA maintained.