ARY News anchor Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain granted bail

LAHORE: A district and sessions court in Lahore has granted bail to ARY News anchor Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain in a case pertaining to alleged bank fraud case, ARY News reported on Saturday.

According to details, the sessions court granted bail to Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain against surety bonds of Rs0.2 million.

During the hearing, Azhar Siddiqui — Hussain’s lawyer — argued that the accused in the case was acquitted, but the guarantor has now been arrested. “The journalist had not taken any loan and has no role in the agreement,” the lawyer added.

“He [Hussain] is only a witness. The journalist had provided his property as security deposit, which was later auctioned,” he said, noting that the bank’s loan was repaid.

Meanwhile, the female prosecutor of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) requested the court to adjourn the hearing till Monday, saying that the session court does not have jurisdiction to hear this application.

After hearing the arguments, the court rejected the FIA’s request to adjourn hearing and granted bail to the ARY News anchor against surety bonds of Rs0.2 million.

Earlier in the day, ARY News anchor Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain Saturday filed a plea in Lahore court, seeking bail in a case pertaining to alleged bank fraud.

Advocate Azhar Siddique filed the plea on Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain’s behalf in the district and sessions court, Lahore. The plea stated that the FIA arrested anchorperson in a fake case.

The petitioner contended he neither took a loan from bank nor was involved in any scam. He pleaded with the court to approve his bail plea in the “bogus” case.

It is pertinent to mention here that a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team took Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain into custody from a coffee shop in Lahore.

“My father was sitting in a coffee shop with friends when a FIA team comprising 30 to 40 officers came and took him into custody, probably in an old case,” Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain’s son told ARY News.

Chaudhry Ghulam Hussain is not only a seasoned journalist but also a part of ARY News’ popular talkshow “The Reporters” viewed by hundreds of thousands of people daily. He brings in his years-long experience to analyze political developments and current affairs along with ARY News Islamabad Bureau Chief Khawar Ghumman.

He also participated in today’s episode of ‘The Reporters’ on ARY News but now his son has confirmed that FIA officials took him into custody over an old case from a coffee shop near his residence in Lahore.