ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI:    -    The Islamabad police yesterday secured custody of Dr Shehbaz Gill, the chief of staff of former prime minister Imran Khan, from the Adiala Jail authorities after hours-long tug-of-war between these two police departments following the court approval of two-day physical remand of the sedition case accused to the capital police for more investigation.

Later, the Islamabad police took Shehbaz Gill to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for a medical checkup.

Earlier, an additional and sessions judge Islamabad accepted the investigators of Kohsar police of reviewing the verdict of judicial magistrate of sending Gill on judicial remand, and granted two-day physical remand to the capital city police.

“We have handed over Dr Shehbaz Gill to investigators of Islamabad following the court orders,” said a senior officer serving in Adiala Jail, while talking to The Nation.

However, sources inside the jail claimed that jail authorities had given Islamabad police the custody of Gill only after the Interior Ministry ordered summoning Rangers and Frontier Constabulary to jail for executing the court orders.

The sources also disclosed that the federal government has also decided to file a contempt of court against the DIG Prisons Rawalpindi Region for not obeying the court orders about Gill’s custody to the Islamabad police.

According to details, a team of investigators of Kohsar police, led by SSP Investigation Farhat Abbas Kazmi, reached Adiala Jail to take custody of Dr Shehbaz Gill after obtaining his two-day physical remand from court of Additional and Session Judge Zeba Chaudhry. However, the jail authorities refused to give the custody of Gill citing that the inmate is complaining of difficulty in breathing and low blood pressure due to alleged torture and the doctors moved him to hospital in the prison.

Meanwhile, a heavy contingent of Rawalpindi police also reached Adiala Jail to move Dr Shehbaz Gill to DHQ Hospital Raja Bazaar.

The Gate No 5 of Adiala Jail was presenting the scene of a battlefield as Rawalpindi police cops and officials of Punjab Prisons Department allegedly scuffled with the Islamabad police denying their entry inside the jail.

Following the orders of CPO Rawalpindi and IG Islamabad, more police forces including Elite Force were dispatched to Adiala Jail in order to get the custody of Gill.

Sensing the sensitivity of the issue, the Interior Ministry had to summon Rangers and FC for execution of the court orders after which the jail authorities had handed over Dr Shehbaz Gill to Islamabad police.

“Dr Shehbaz Gill’s condition was not good, that is why the paramedics put an oxygen mask on his face to support him in breathing,” said a doctor, who was deputed in an ambulance to provide medical treatment to the accused.

Also, a spokesman to Islamabad police clarified that Gill was not tortured by police during physical custody. He said the investigators had brought Dr Shehbaz Gill to the hospital for medical checkup on the court orders. “Doctors have declared Gill fully fit and healthy in medical reports,” he said.