Court sends PTI leader Ali Zaidi on three-day physical remand

KARACHI:

A court in Karachi handed over Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ali Zaidi on Monday to police on three-day physical remand in a fraud case.

According to Express News, the police produced the PTI leader before judicial magistrate Malir in the city’s Malir court.

During the hearing, the investigating officer stated that according to the law, the accused was produced before the court within 24 hours, therefore, his physical remand should be approved.

The court reserved its decision on the police’s request for Zaidi’s physical remand. Along with this, the court also reserved its decision on the request to discharge Zaidi under Section 63 of the Criminal Code and said that the decision on both requests will be announced after some time.

Read more: PTI’s Gandapur turns himself in to police

Later, announcing the verdict the court rejected Zaidi's request to discharge him under Section 63 of the Criminal Code and handed him over to the police on three-day physical remand.

The former minister was arrested on April 15 from the party’s Sindh office in Karachi.

Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan strongly denounced the arrest, describing it as part of the "London plan where former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was given assurances that PTI would be crushed".

Zaidi is the latest PTI leader to be arrested by law enforcement agencies, with several other heavyweights from the former ruling party also being arrested.

Earlier this month, PTI leader Ali Amin Gandapur was arrested outside the court premises in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's Dera Ismail Khan district.

Gandapur voluntarily surrendered to the police outside the Peshawar High Court, DI Khan bench, where he was seeking bail in various cases, including terrorism charges. Speaking to the media before his arrest, Gandapur denied knowledge of any FIRs and claimed that he was being arrested without reason.