A Malir court on Monday granted Karachi police three-day remand of PTI leader Ali Haider Zaidi in a case filed a decade ago pertaining to “fraud”.

In a video posted by the PTI on Saturday evening, policemen in uniform could be seen taking away the senior PTI leader from his office in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority area. Another video showed officials pushing and dragging Zaidi by his arm.

A first information report (FIR) was registered at Ibrahim Hyderi police station on the complaint of a property dealer, Fazal Ilahi, against Zaidi and two unidentified persons. It alleged that the PTI leader had given him a “fake” property file in partial repayment of a loan.

The party’s provincial media department claimed Zaidi was arrested from the PTI Secretariat without a warrant.

Zaidi was presented in a judicial magistrate’s court today amid strict security. Dawn.com‘s correspondent reported PTI leaders and workers chanting slogans in Zaidi’s favour outside the court.

The court dismissed a plea from the PTI leader’s lawyer for his client’s case to be dismissed under Section 63 (discharge of person apprehended) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and granted the police a three-day physical remand of Zaidi.

The court order, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, said Zaidi was involved in a matter “pertaining to huge financial transaction and forgery of documents, which is graver and having bad effect on society”. It said the investigation could not be completed in 24 hours and further time may enable the investigation officer to determine the truth and procure evidence.

It said the IO had also added Section 406 (Punishment for criminal breach of trust) of the Pakistan Penal Code to the case, noting that to reject its applicability would amount to interference.

“Probe, thus, is necessary in the case,” reads the order, further directing the police to produce Zaidi on April 20 (Thursday) and the IO to conduct a “fair, honest and impartial investigation” and submit his progress report.

Another court order rejecting the plea from Zaidi’s lawyer for his discharge said Section 63 of the CrPC was limited to the extent of illegal custody or unjustified arrest but Zaidi was nominated by Ilahi in his FIR with specific allegations.

It added Zaidi was arrested on the complainant’s complaint and thus it was “justified”. It further said that since the complainant had produced the relevant documents showing the “nexus of accused with the commission of offence”, therefore, prima facie the accusation against the PTI leader was made out and the material on record justified his arrest.

Talking to the media outside the court, Zaidi said, “The case is fabricated, the document is fabricated. I wasn’t even in the city on the date when the fabricated document was signed — I gave a copy of my passport.”

He claimed that the copy of a cheque shown to the judge was “an uncertified copy, which was also fabricated”.

PTI chief Imran Khan, meanwhile, said he feared that Zaidi and party leader Ali Amin Gandapur, who was also arrested earlier this month, would be subjected to “custodial torture”.

“Totally condemnatory how Ali Zaidi and Ali Amin are being kept in custody on sham FIRs and we fear both, like Swati and Gill earlier, will be subjected to custodial torture. Cabal of crooks and their handlers have made a complete mockery of [the] Constitution, rule of law, court orders and democracy simply to fulfill nefarious London Plan,” he said on Twitter.

“Institutions are destroyed, economy has nosedived and fundamental rights are being trampled with impunity,” he said.

The hearing

At the outset of the hearing, Zaidi’s lawyer said that the case was one of a civil court and not a criminal case.

“The FIR is blank on the matter of how the transaction took place. No bank cheque or anything else has been presented by the petitioner. No evidence of any transaction between the petitioner and Ali Haider Zadi has been presented,” he said.

The lawyer further argued that neither any documents related to the property had been presented nor was any application submitted by the petitioner from 2013 till now.

He asked, “Does the police have the authority to file complaints in these kinds of cases?”

The lawyer said that there was no witness present in the case and requested that Zaidi be discharged under Section 63 of the CrPC. He also called for a case of forgery against the complainant and requested that proceedings be ordered against him.

Meanwhile, the PTI leader claimed to have never met Ilahi or known him. “I don’t have that much money, check my record with the Federal Board of Revenue,” he added.

Zaidi said he was not in the country on the date the incident was alleged to have taken place and presented his passport in the court.

“This is a completely bogus FIR,” he said, adding that the complainant’s age was 22 in 2013 according to his CNIC.

Zaidi said there should be a record if he had taken any amount.

The PTI leader also pointed to the circumstances of his presence in court, saying he should have been presented on Sunday. “The police did not present me [in court] in 24 hours in accordance with the law,” he said, adding that the police were giving a different time of his arrest.

Investigation Officer Ghulam Mustafa Shar maintained that Zaidi was presented within 24 hours in accordance with the law.

Separately, Muhammad Kamran Balouch, the lawyer for the complaint, called for an investigation into the case. “Who knows who else’s money is usurped,” he said and called on the court to grant Zaidi’s physical remand.

The FIR

According to the FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the case had been registered under Sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

It had said the complainant told police that Zaidi ran a real estate business in 2013 and had taken a loan of Rs180 million from him.

The complainant maintained that as surety, Zaidi gave him the papers of a property valued at Rs16.7m and promised to pay the remaining Rs12.5m in the next six months.

An agreement to this effect was signed at Ilahi’s office in the Jamot Para area of Ibrahim Hyderi, the FIR said.

Ilahi had alleged in the FIR that he had asked Zaidi several times to transfer the plot in his name but he continued to employ delaying tactics. He further claimed that later, it was revealed that the file of the property given to him by Zaidi was “fake”.

“Despite my frequent requests, the suspect refused to give me the money,” the FIR quoted the complainant as saying.

Ilahi alleged that the “suspect had ill intentions” and he had “abused his trust and committed fraud”.

In his complaint, Ilahi has also sought police protection from Zaidi for himself and his children.