A district and sessions court in Mardan on Friday rejected the police’s request for the physical remand of former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser and sent the PTI leader to jail on four-day judicial remand in a case pertaining to violent protests in the country on May 9. Qaiser was initially arrested on Nov 3 at his Banigala residence on charges of causing losses to the national exchequer through procurement irregularities in the Gajju Khan Medical College.
On Thursday, he was granted bail by an anti-corruption court in the case. But the PTI leader re-arrested from his Marghuz residence hours later in a case pertaining to ransacking of the Charsadda Toll Plaza on the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway on May 9 — the day violent protests broke out across the country following ex-premier Imran Khan’s arrest. Following Qaiser’s release from Swabi prison, a joint team of Swabi and Charsadda police had arrested him. Qaiser’s brother, Waheed Khan, had told Dawn that three cases were registered against his brother in connection with May 9 violence: one was in Swabi, another in Islamabad and the third in Charsadda.
