LAHORE - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi was reportedly arrested again on Sunday after an anti-corruption court in Lahore discharged him in a corruption case related to the Lahore Master Plan 2050, marking yet another instance of his frequent arrests. “They (officials) said he has been arrested in a terrorism case and was being taken to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi,” said his lawyer Rana Intezar Hussain. Elahi is among several PTI leaders and workers who have been arrested amid the state’s crackdown on the PTI leadership following the violent riots in the country after Imran’s first arrest on May 9.
He was presented in the court today following his arrest by the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment’s (ACE) in Rawalpindi yesterday, which according to another one of his lawyers Sardar Abdul Razzaq was the 12th time the PTI leader was detained since June 1 following the May 9 episode.
While the hearing was under way, Elahi’s lawyer Hussain told media that “anti-corruption officials have sought Elahi’s physical remand while we are opposing their request”.
The court earlier reserved its decision on the ACE’s request and later dismissed Elahi, discharging him in the case.
In its written order issued in the evening, the court said: “Discharge never amounts to acquittal because acquittal is sweet will of learned trial court which is fully competent to summon the accused to face trial even if he was discharged.” It further ruled that “no incriminating material” was available against the accused which could connect him with the commission of the alleged offence. “Hence, the accused person namely Chaudhry Parvez Elahi is hereby discharged in this case.”
The court also instructed authorities to immediately release the PTI president if he was not required in any other case.
Elahi was charged under Sections 109 (punishment of abetment if the Act abetted committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Pakistan Penal Code as well as Section 5 (criminal misconduct) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947 in the case.
The printed first information report (FIR), had details of the time of reporting and sections invoked filled in with pen. It was registered on July 19 at the Lahore ACE police station on the complaint of Lahore ACE officer Tariq Mehmood. According to the FIR, in March 2021, then-CM Elahi misused his authority and colluded with Lahore Development Authority Director Amir Ahmed Khan to illegally alter the draft of the Lahore Master Plan 2050 and include Kotli Rai Abu Bakar — an area in Kasur district — in it.As a result, the value of the land owned by Elahi’s sons, Moonis Elahi and Rasikh Elahi, in Kotli Rai Abu Bakar increased manifold, the FIR alleged.The provincial anti-corruption authorities had taken him into custody in the case from Adiala Jail in the garrison city, where he was detained in a riots case. After his arrest, Elahi was presented in an Islamabad court, which granted the ACE one-day transit remand of PTI president for him to be produced in the relevant anti-corruption court in Lahore today. After May 9, Elahi was first taken into custody on June 1 from outside his Lahore residence by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), Gujrat for allegedly taking kickbacks in development projects. The next day, a Lahore court discharged him in the case but only for the ACE to re-arrest him in a case registered in the Gujranwala region. In this case, Elahi was accused of causing a Rs100 million loss to the national exchequer and receiving kickbacks during his time as the Punjab chief minister. A day after his re-arrest, a Gujranwala court also discharged Elahi in two corruption cases, including the one in which he was detained on June 2. But freedom still eluded him as he was again re-arrested by anti-graft officials in a case pertaining to “illegal recruitments” in the Punjab Assembly.
