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LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Monday granted bail to five suspects in the case pertaining to the death of a mother and her infant daughter from falling into an open manhole near Bhati Gate last month as the complainant chose not to seek any legal action.<\/p>\n
The two \u2014 24-year-old Sadia and her 10-month-old daughter Rida \u2014 had fallen into the sewer<\/u><\/a> at the site of the under-construction Data Darbar expansion project near Bhati Gate on January 28. While the woman\u2019s body was found late at night, the same day, the child\u2019s body was recovered<\/u><\/a> the next day. Subsequently, three officials of the contractor working on the project were arrested <\/a>along with two others.<\/p>\n Magistrate Shafqat Abbas conducted Monday\u2019s proceedings after police presented the suspects before the court on the expiry of their physical remand<\/a>.<\/p>\n The suspects included Project Manager Asghar Sandhu, contractor company\u2019s chief executive officer Salman Yasin, Site In-charge Hunzala, Ahmed Nawaz, and Daniyal.<\/p>\n Sajid Hussain, the father of the deceased woman, and her husband, Murtaza, the complainant, also appeared before the court.<\/p>\n Both informed the court that they did not wish to pursue further legal action against the suspects and had no objection to their acquittal or discharge from the case.<\/p>\n In light of the complainant\u2019s statement, the magistrate approved the post-arrest bail applications of the suspects and directed them to furnish surety bonds of Rs50,000 each.<\/p>\n It is worth mentioning that at the previous hearing<\/a>, the defence counsel told the court that the company\u2019s owner had voluntarily surrendered to the police and presented a cheque of Rs10 million for the aggrieved family.<\/p>\n