Nadar Khan was nominated with a specific role — causing a firearm injury to the deceased Saadullah — jointly with co-accused Siraj. On that nomination, the Peshawar High Court refused bail after arrest on 10.07.2026 in Cr.MB.1862-P/26. He approached the Supreme Court in Crl.P.L.A.187-P/2026.
The Supreme Court — Mr. Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi authoring, with Mr. Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Mr. Justice Naeem Akhter Afghan — allowed the petition on 21.09.2026, set aside the High Court's order, and granted bail after arrest on Rs.200,000 with one surety. Three facts drove the result: no weapon was recovered from the petitioner; the empties recovered came from a single pistol; and no specific, differentiated role could be assigned as between the petitioner and the co-accused. The case, the Court held, was one of further inquiry.
Two humane considerations reinforced the legal one: the petitioner's advanced age and his terminal, life-threatening diseases. Bail jurisprudence in Pakistan has long treated old age and serious illness as relevant to the balance — not as acquittals, but as reasons not to keep a person caged while the prosecution's case remains to be tested at trial.
The 'further inquiry' doctrine is the quiet workhorse of bail law: where the prosecution's own material leaves the accused's exact role unresolved, the benefit at the bail stage goes to the accused. Nomination in the FIR is the beginning of the inquiry, not its end. Umar aur beemari — plus a case the prosecution itself has not yet nailed down — together made continued detention unjustified.