[ad_1]
PTI leader Parvez Elahi was released from Kot Lakhpat jail on Tuesday night after the Lahore High Court (LHC) granted him bail and ordered his release in a case pertaining to an alleged illegal appointment made in the Punjab Assembly during his stint as the chief minister.
LHC Justice Sultan Tanveer Ahmed accepted Elahi’s bail petition earlier today and ordered his release. Elahi’s lawyer Amir Saeed Rawn told Dawn.com that the PTI leader had reached the Zahoor Elahi Palace.
PTI Senator Faisal Javed congratulated Elahi on his release and praised him for his loyalty to the party.
Initially taken into custody on June 1 last year, the former Punjab CM faced a series of releases and re-arrests, and remained in detention ever since. The legal challenges coincided with the state’s crackdown on the PTI that followed the violent May 9 protests that saw important government and military installations vandalised.
The case at hand pertains to the alleged illegal appointment of Muhammad Khan Bhatti as the principal secretary to the chief minister during Elahi’s tenure as the Punjab CM.
The case
Elahi was initially arrested in the case of recruitments to the Punjab Assembly on June 3 last year. The case pertained to illegal recruitments of 12 Grade-17 officers in the provincial assembly, with Elahi being accused of getting the results of the testing service changed to select the candidates of his choice.
He was then arrested on September 18 in the case of allegedly illegally appointing Bhatti, following which a Lahore court sent him on judicial remand.
In October, a Lahore district and sessions court had granted police Elahi’s two-day physical remand in the case. Days later, the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment had informed the court that it had allegedly recovered Rs4.1 million from the ex-CM’s house in the case.
The next month, a judicial magistrate had discharged Bhatti in the case but he remained in jail as he was on judicial remand in other corruption cases. Later the same month, Elahi was denied bail in the case.
[ad_2]
Source link
