Islamabad Court on Monday rejected plea seeking extension of physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader and former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry and sent him to jail on 14-day judicial remand. Fawad was arrested from his Lahore residence on Wednesday after a case was registered against him at Islamabad’s Kohsar Police Station.
He was presented before the court on Friday after the expiry of his physical remand, however, the prosecution’s request for an extension was turned down by the judicial magistrate.
Later, the decision was overturned by the sessions court. On Saturday, the judicial magistrate granted the police two-day remand and directed the authorities to produce Fawad before the court after the expiry of the remand.
The police sought further custody pleading they were not given enough time to probe Fawad and carry out a photogrammetry test. The PTI leader was taken to his Lahore residence on Sunday for the recovery of communication devices.
The PTI leader was produced before Judicial Magistrate Waqas Ahmed Raja’s court Monday after the expiry of his two-day physical remand.
He was supposed to be produced before the court at 11:30am but despite the judge’s directive to the prosecution team, the PTI leader couldn’t be presented in the court till 3:30pm.
However, when Fawad finally appeared before the court, the police again prayed to the judge to extend the PTI leader’s physical remand. The prosecutor said that a photogrammetric test has been done but they want to recover Fawad mobile, laptop, and other devices.
At the judge’s query, the official said “the photogrammetric test is conducted to confirm the identity of a person with voice and photo matching”.
Meanwhile, the counsel for the ECP didn’t press for further remand. “We only wanted the photogrammetric test, which has been done,” the ECP lawyer said.
