ISLAMABAD (NATION MONITORING): PTI leader Asad Umar on Tuesday secured pre-arrest bail from a special court in Islamabad — established a day earlier to hear the cases filed under the Official Secrets Act — in the ongoing cipher case. The bail was approved with surety bonds of Rs100,000. Talking to reporters outside the court, he also refuted media reports regarding his arrest by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). These reports emerged after a first information report (FIR) was registered against PTI Chairman Imran Khan and party leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi under the Official Secrets Act. It also named Umar as one of the “associates” that investigators wanted to question in this connection. A day earlier, the special court remanded Qureshi into FIA custody for four days. Separately, the agency also recently interrogated Imran in Attock jail, where he is currently serving a sentence in the Toshakhana case. Umar, along with PTI lawyer Babar Awan, reached the special court in Islamabad on Tuesday. In an application submitted in court, he said the FIR was registered against him “in collusion with the government with mala fide intentions and ulterior motives”. It stated that the petitioner was “falsely implicated” in the case to “blackmail, harass, pressurise and humiliate” him. “The story narrated in the FIR is false, frivolous, fabricated, concocted, unfounded and vexatious and the petitioner has no concern whatsoever with the alleged offences mentioned,” the plea added. Umar further said in the petition that he was ready to join the investigation “as and when required” and prayed that he be granted bail before arrest. Talking to reporters later outside court, Umar rejected reports of his arrest. There was speculation that he was picked up in the cipher case along with PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi. “Reports of my arrest are false,” Umar told reporters. “I was not arrested by FIA. I have come to the court to receive pre-arrest bail.