PTI Central President and former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was again arrested after a court in Lahore disposed of a corruption case against him on Friday, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The former Punjab chief minister was now arrested in connection with another corruption case registered against him in Gujranwala, said Anti-Corruption Establishment Director General Sohail Zafar Chattha.

Sohail Chattah they will also going into appeal over the discharge of first corruption case.

Moments earlier, a court in Lahore has disposed of the corruption case against Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi for lack of evidence. Judicial Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Virk while pronouncing the verdict declined to grant physical remand of the former CM.

The court declared that the anti-corruption investigators failed to present any credible evidence against Pervaiz Elahi.

Anti-Corruption Establishment was after Pervaiz Elahi for alleged corruption in awarding contracts for building roads in Lalamusa, Dhinga and Gujrat.

The investigators were of the view that the contracts were awarded even before the publication of advertisements for the development projects. A cumulative loss of Rs1,229 million was detected in these projects, they added.

Earlier, the judicial magistrate reserved his verdict on the physical remand of Pervaiz Elahi as demanded by the ACE in a corruption case.

Elahi was presented before the magistrate court today. The anti-corruption investigators sought his 14-day physical remand in the corruption case.

At the outset of the hearing, the learned judge inquired of the investigators that the case mentioned collusion of government officials ‘so how many government officials have been included in the investigation’.

Then the court asked Elahi to come to the rostrum.

The former Punjab chief minister told the court that he had nothing to do with the case.

“I’m innocent. I always insist that all processes be completed,” he added.

Then Judicial Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Virk reserved his judgment on remand.

The former chief minister was brought to the court in an armoured personnel vehicle.

Prosecutor informed Judicial Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza that Pervaiz Elahi was arrested after his bail plea was disposed of.

The Anti-Corruption Establishment with the help of police arrested Pervaiz Elahi outside his Zahoor Palace residence in Gulberg on Thursday evening in connection with a case involving Rs70 million corruption in development funds allocated for the Gujrat district. His arrest came after a lot of botched raids at his residences in Lahore and Gujrat.

In a statement issued yesterday, the ACE said that PTI President Elahi was “wanted” in multiple cases and his bail was dismissed by an anti-corruption court a few days ago.

It further claimed that Elahi had submitted his “fake medical certificates” to the court to secure bail which was denied.

Meanwhile, DG Anti-Corruption Sohail Zafar Chathha said that Elahi would not be transferred to Gujranwala.

He said that the accused would be investigated in Lahore by the ACE and he would not be handed over to the police.

https://twitter.com/PTIofficial/status/1664534090618372096

Talking informally to media men, Pervaiz Elahi said he was innocent and a staunch supporter of the Pakistan Army.

He, however, advised PTI workers “Don’t get scared, keep put.” He said that he would not hold any press conferences. 

Reporter Qaisar Khokhar