ISLAMABAD: A local court in Islamabad Wednesday night handed over senior leader of the PTI Fawad Chaudhry to police custody on two-day physical remand .
The Islamabad police presented Fawad Chaudhry in the court of duty magistrate Naveed Khan after bringing him from Lahore. The Islamabad police had arrested Fawad Chaudhry in Lahore after registration of an FIR on the complain of the ECP. The police had requested for eight days physical remand, however, the court approved two day physical remand of Fawad.
The prosecutor and ECP had requested the court to hand over Fawad to police on eight days physical remand. However, the counsel for Fawad Chaudhry opposed the physical remand and requested to the court to send the accused on judicial remand as the investigation officer has nothing to recover from the accused. After hearing the arguments, the court had reserved the verdict, which was announced after some time.
The PTI senior leaders including opposition leader in Senate Shehzad Waseem were present in the court. Charged PTI workers were also present outside the court, who also clashed with the police.
Earlier, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had rejected a petition against arrest of PTI senior leader Fawad Chaudhry, saying that the police have followed the rules and procedure for Fawad Chaudhry’s arrest.
Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh told the counsel for Fawad Chaudhry to approach relevant forum for relief as his client’s arrest was not illegal.
Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh told Fawad’s counsel that his client’s arrest was not “illegal” as the police had followed the rules and procedures required for detaining the former minister.
Earlier, the court had directed the authorities to present Fawad before it in response to a petition filed by Fawad’s cousin, Nabeel Shehzad, for the “recovery” of the former federal minister. However, the police failed to present the accused in the court.
The court adjourned the hearing of the case, directing the IGs Punjab and Islamabad to appear before the court and present Fawad Chaudhry. However, the police had shifted Fawad Chaudhry to Islamabad after taking transit remand from local court in Lahore.
The IG Punjab Usman Anwar appeared before the court and said that he could not contact the policy party that was transporting PTI leader to Islamabad due to weak mobile signals.
He said that Fawad Chaudhry was in the custody of Islamabad police, adding that the police has not violated any orders of the court.
For his part, Advocate General (AG) Punjab Jawad Yaqoob said Islamabad police has arrested Fawad Chaudhry over an FIR registered at Islamabad’s Kohsar Police Station. He said that the administration had no “ill intention” and added that his arrest was made in line with the law.
The court dismissed the petition, saying that the Islamabad high court is the relevant forum as the FIR was registered in Islamabad.
