Court admits Sana’s plea seeking withdrawal of arrest warrant

Judge fixes hearing for October 13, orders ACE to submit complete records

ISLAMABAD:

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah’s plea seeking withdrawal of the non-bailable arrest warrant against him was accepted on Tuesday, and fixed for hearing on October 13.

The minister’s plea was accepted after the submission of an affidavit to court confirming his counsel.

Senior Civil Judge Ghulam Akbar issued notices to the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) team on the petition and directed them to submit a complete record of the case at the hearing.

Earlier in the day, the court had returned the interior minister's plea with an objection.

The legal team of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) had filed a request to withdraw the arrest warrant issued by a senior civil judge against Sanaullah.

The petition noted that under the Section 76 of the CrPC, the court can authorise the investigating officer to receive bail bonds.

Further, the petition accused the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) of “misrepresenting” facts in obtaining the arrest warrant.

"Rana Sanaullah is in Islamabad, not hiding anywhere, so the warrant of arrest should be withdrawn and the investigating officer should be ordered to receive bail bonds," the plea maintained.

However, the senior civil judge returned the application, and directed the PML-N leader to submit before the court an affidavit confirming his counsel.

Read ACE team again fails to arrest Sanaullah, says police 'refused to cooperate'

Talking to the media following the development, the PML-N's legal team said that affidavit will be submitted.

The warrants

Last week, Rawalpindi’s Senior Civil Judge (Criminal Division) Ghulam Akbar issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for the interior minister.

The ACE had alleged that Sanaullah purchased two plots in Bismillah Housing Scheme, located in Kallar Kahar area, at a price lower than the scheduled rate. It further claimed that both the plots were given to Sanaullah as a bribe.

Although the court issued the arrest warrant, the ACE officials failed to arrest the minister due to a "lack of cooperation" from the police.

Two days later, a fresh arrest warrant was issued for the ACE to immediately arrest the minister and produce him before the court. However, the ACE team returned empty-handed again.

The previous arrest warrant had only one address of the minister mentioned, whereas it was requested to add more addresses in the fresh warrant.

The minister, in a statement after the ACE’s second attempt to arrest him with the fresh warrant, alleged that the ACE committed “forgery” after becoming a tool of its “political masters” in a four-year-old case.

He said that the ACE "did not fulfil the legal requirement of providing case record with the arrest warrant," adding that the move was a nefarious conspiracy to influence the federal government to get some relief for “Imran fitna” – a reference to former premier Imran Khan.

Sanaullah had claimed that action would be taken against all those involved in "committing forgery and misleading the court", and that he will approach the court against the officials concerned.