A special court for anti-corruption on Wednesday indicted former commissioner of Rawalpindi retired Capt Muhammad Mahmood Rai and Land Acquisition Collector Waseem Tabish in the Rawalpindi ring road scam.

Both accused persons pleaded not guilty and the court directed the prosecution to produce its witnesses on July 14.

The accused persons, on bail, were present in the court along with counsel Burhan Moazam Malik.

The counsel argued that the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) registered a fabricated case against his clients. He said the former chief minister had formed a three-member inquiry committee in the matter. He said two of the members of the committee cleared the accused from the allegations while one member recommended the FIR.

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It said Nova Housing Society was involved in selling its one file for Rs10 million and had earned a total Rs1.5 billion from files sale. The society is believed to be owned by the close relatives of former federal minister Ghulam Sarwar.

In a recent development, the federal government exonerated 13 bureaucrats, including retired Capt Muhammad Mahmood and Tabish, in a departmental inquiry initiated in the Rawalpindi ring road corruption scandal.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had ordered a reinvestigation of the charges against the government officers. The investigation found them innocent.