The President of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party Parvez Elahi was on Friday arrested again minutes after a judicial magistrate here ordered his release in an embezzlement case.
Elahi, a close aide to former prime minister Khan, was a day earlier arrested outside his residence in Punjab province in the Rs 70 million corruption case related to the embezzlement of development funds allocated for the Gujrat district. The former chief minister of Punjab province was re-arrested by officials of the Anti-Corruption Establishment Punjab in a corruption case registered against him in Gujranwala, Geo News reported. Judicial Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Virk issued Elahi’s release order while announcing the verdict he had reserved on a plea seeking the PTI leader’s physical remand.“Parvez Elahi should be released if he is not wanted in any other case,” the verdict said.
Murtaza had reserved the verdict after hearing the former Punjab chief minister’s case, where ACE Punjab requested the court for his 14-day physical remand. Elahi’s counsel Advocate Rana Intizar informed the court that all documents related to the projects were available. “Anti-corruption watchdog is introducing its own law under which the judge hearing the cases will be of their choice,” the council said, adding that on January 17 a payment worth Rs 360 million was made when Naqvi was the chief minister. Earlier on Friday, the 77-year-old leader claimed innocence and said that he was a “supporter” of the Pakistan Army, urging party supporters to stay strong. Speaking to reporters before his appearance in the court, Elahi said: “I am innocent and a supporter of the Pakistan Army.” While speaking to Geo News, Elahi without naming anybody took a jibe at the former party leaders who announced their decision to part ways with PTI chief Imran Khan, saying that he won’t hold any press conference.
