SHC rejects petition seeking transfer of Dr Asim to hospital

Assistant director Rangers tells court that Dr Asim has been provided with necessary medical care in custody

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) disposed of a petition on Thursday requesting the court to shift under trial suspect Dr Asim Hussain, who is a close confidante of former president Asif Ali Zardari, to a hospital for provision of better medical treatment.

Rangers officials who have the custody of former minister and chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) told the SHC judges that Dr Asim has been provided with necessary medical care in custody, sources told The Express Tribune.

Read: Anti-corruption drive: Confidante of Zardari detained on graft charges

“Dr Asim Hussain is physically fit,” assistant director Rangers claimed before judges during a hearing of the petition in the SHC.

Further, the Rangers officials told the court that Dr Asim is being interrogated for severe offences and pleaded the court to dismiss the plea filed by his wife.

Later, after hearing arguments from both sides, the court disposed of the petition filed by Dr Zareen Hussain, Dr Asim’s wife, to shift him to a hospital.

However, the judges at the SHC directed Dr Zareen Hussain to file a separate petition if she wants to challenge his arrest.

Dr Asim’s arrest had been challenged in the SHC immediately after he was sent on a 90-day physical remand as his wife submitted a petition claiming that men in civvies took away the former minister from his Clifton office to an undisclosed location.

Last week, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Karachi had handed over Dr Asim to Rangers on a 90-day physical remand. He was presented before an anti-terrorism court in Karachi a day after he was picked up by law-enforcers in civvies in what appears to be a major graft-busting move. The law enforcers apprehended the chairman of the HEC, Sindh chapter, and former federal minister, in connection with his alleged involvement in corruption cases. Reports suggest he was involved in money laundering, land allotment scams and corruption in LNG and CNG deals.

Read: Zardari's close confidante Dr Asim Hussain handed over to Rangers for 90 days

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had condemned the arrest of Dr Asim Hussain – a former petroleum minister and close aide of former President Asif Ali Zardari – as politically motivated.