LAHORE: The local court on Friday granted bail to Muhammad Rizwan in a case related to knocking down the statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh outside the Shahi Qila, Lahore.
Muhammad Rizwan was presented before the court of a duty judicial magistrate Hassan Sarfaraz. The prosecution team informed the court that the investigation from the accused has been completed and challan will be presented soon.
The team requested the court to send the accused to jail on judicial remand. However, the judge, declaring the offense as bailable, granted bail to Muhammad Rizwan against surety bonds of Rs50,000.
The suspect was taken into custody with the help of CCTV footage after Lahore’s Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Mahmood Dogar had taken the incident’s notice.
Rizwan had vandalized the statue with a hammer and toppled it down from its rearing horse.
The sculpture of Ranjit Singh was unveiled at the Lahore Fort’s historic Mai Jindan Haveli to mark the 180th death anniversary on June 30, 2019.
The government had taken eight months to finish the eight-foot-tall statue of the king sitting on his favourite horse named Kahar Bahar, a gift from Dost Muhammad Khan, the founder of the Barakzai dynasty.
