The legal troubles for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have refused to die down as the couple have been arrested in new National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference related to Toshakhana gifts, Geo News reported citing sources.
The development came hours after a district and sessions court in Islamabad acquitted the former premier and his spouse in the iddat case — also known as the un-Islamic nikah case — which was the last hurdle in the couple's release from jail.
The court accepted the couple's pleas seeking annulment of their conviction in the iddat case. Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka announced short order reserved earlier in the day.
Khan and Bushra were sentenced to seven years in prison and awarded a fine of Rs500,000 each, in February earlier this year after a trial court found their nikah to be fraudulent as Khawar Maneka, Bushra's ex-husband, moved the court against the couple's marriage.
A team of the anti-corruption watchdog headed by Deputy Director Mohsin Haroon arrested the couple in the Adiala Jail in the new reference related to alleged "misuse of power for acquiring Toshakhana gifts," the sources added.
In another development, the sources revealed that Lahore police did not make any progress to nab the former prime minister after his interim bails were dismissed by the anti-terrorism court (ATC) earlier this week.
It emerged that Khan's arrest was not declared in the May 9, 2023, riots cases as per the Adiala Jail records.
A Lahore Police team has also reached Adiala Jail to arrest the PTI founder, the sources added.
According to an NAB inquiry report, the new case is about the "illegal possession and sale of 10 expensive [Toshakhana] gifts". A second team also arrived at the Rawalpindi jail under the supervision of NAB Assistant Director Naeem Ullah.
The sources further said that Bushra Bibi’s lawyers also submitted a pre-arrest bail plea in the court that heard £190 million National Crime Agency (NCA) settlement case today, citing her expected arrest in the new NAB reference.
A NAB official confirmed to The News in January that the top graft body was working on another reference against the cricketer-cum-politician which is also related to the Toshakhana gifts retained by him after payment of a paltry amount.
It is noteworthy to mention here that an accountability court's judge had refused to extend Khan's physical remand in the case under question when the NAB filed a Toshakhana reference in December 2023.
While talking to journalists outside the Rawalpindi jail, the ex-premier’s lawyer Intazar Panjutha said that “conspiracy to break down the PTI founder has failed as he is now facing no more cases against him” which needed to keep him behind bars.
He added that the court issued mandamus (robkar) for Khan and Bushra’s release. He further said that both of them were not facing arrests in any other case as per Adiala Jail’s records till Saturday morning.
Panjutha said that his party leadership ordered workers not to gather at Adiala Jail in the current circumstances.
The couple had challenged their conviction in the iddat case and even moved the IHC seeking varying relief from the court.
The verdict of the un-Islamic nikah case holds significance for Khan, who has been behind bars since August last year after he was sentenced in the Toshakhana criminal case, and subsequently sentenced in other cases ahead of the February 8 elections.
Khan has already secured relief in £190 million reference, Toshakhana and the cipher cases.
Khan has also been granted bail in several May 9 cases registered in Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Faisalabad. However, an ATC in Lahore earlier this week dismissed his pre-arrest bail in vandalism cases related to the violent protests last year.
