KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday barred the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from carrying out raids on the residences of Sindh Irrigation Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal and his relatives.

A two-judge bench of the high court gave this restraining order while hearing bail petitions of the PPP minister and others. The court extended the interim bail granted to him as well as Zafar Siyal and Jameel Soomro until November 12 and sought a progress report from the bureau on its ongoing inquiry against them.

The bench observed that the national graft buster doesn’t have powers to raid houses without a search warrant, nor can it persecute women by conducting raids without any plausible reason. Justice KK Agha said NAB officials ought to be accompanied by female police officers during a house raid.

A counsel for the PPP minister complained to the judges that officials of the bureau raided the residences of his client’s father, late uncle, and other relatives without any search warrant and harassed their female family members.

The NAB prosecutor informed that the corruption watchdog has completed the assets beyond means inquiry against Sohail Anwar Siyal but it is yet to calculate the value of his properties. He sought time to complete the inquiry. NNI