ISLAMABAD: On Thursday, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a fresh Toshakhana reference contesting the detention of Imran Khan, the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and his spouse Bushra Bibi.
The couple’s arrest in the new NAB reference regarding state gifts, which occurred just hours after their acquittal in the iddat case last week (also known as the un-Islamic nikah case), which was the final obstacle to their release from custody, did not ease the deposed prime minister’s or his spouse’s legal problems.
Khan has named many officials of the anti-graft body, including the director general and chairman, as respondents in the appeal against the arrests that was filed at the Islamabad High Court (IHC).The petition said, “The petitioners have been arrested in violation of the law, the Constitution, and fundamental rights.”
The argument posited that Khan and Bushra were remanded into the custody of NAB “illegally,” and that their arrest had compromised their fundamental rights to “liberty and pre-arrest.”
On July 13, a group of anti-corruption investigators led by Deputy Director Mohsin Haroon took Khan and Bushra into custody at the Adiala Jail in connection with a new case involving the purported “misuse of power for acquiring Toshakhana gifts.”
After Bushra Bibi was released from Adiala Jail’s Gate No 3 after being found not guilty in the iddat case, the NAB team detained her again.
The PTI founder and his wife were subsequently placed on an eight-day physical remand in connection with the recent graft case by an accountability court on Sunday.
