Court approves 8-day physical remand of Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi in Thoshakhana case

Rawalpindi: An accountability court on Sunday approved eight-day physical remand each of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, in a new graft reference.

Khan's lawyer, Zaheer Abbas Chaudhary, informed the media that NAB had requested a 14-day physical remand of Khan and Bushra Bibi.

Chaudhary opposed the remand, citing their involvement in the £190 million reference. He argued that the arrests were illegal, as their bail petition was already under consideration in the Supreme Court.

This decision came shortly after the couple was acquitted in the iddat or illegal marriage case. However, their release was delayed as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested them in a new Toshakhana reference.

Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka had earlier overturned the couple's conviction, which had sentenced them to seven years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs500,000 each. The conviction was based on allegations that their nikah was fraudulent, following a complaint by Bushra Bibi's ex-husband, Khawar Maneka.

Despite the acquittal, the NAB, led by Deputy Director Mohsin Haroon, arrested the couple at Adiala Jail in connection with the alleged misuse of power related to Toshakhana gifts.

The PTI had hoped for Khan's release after a Supreme Court ruling declared the party eligible for the allocation of reserved seats. However, the accountability court directed the NAB to interrogate the suspects in Adiala jail and ordered them to be produced before the court on July 22.

Khan has been in custody since August last year following his sentencing in the Toshakhana criminal case and subsequent convictions in other cases ahead of the February 8 elections. While he has been granted bail in several cases from May 9 registered in Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Faisalabad, an anti-terrorism court recently cancelled his bail in one of these cases related to violence against military and state installations in May 2023.

In June, the Islamabad High Court overturned Khan's conviction in the cipher case, where he was sentenced to 10 years for leaking state secrets. Additionally, he received sentences of 14 years and three years in separate cases involving state gifts, both of which have been suspended pending appeals.