Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) police took Faisal Zaman, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MPA from Haripur, into custody soon after his bail application was rejected by a court, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Monday. 

Zaman is facing allegation of murdering PTI leaders Malik Tahir Iqbal and Sardar Gul Nawaz. 

Police and the CTD base their claim on the confession of Sher Zaman Ghazi, a ‘hired assassin’, who had also, as per law-enforcement agencies’ version, nominated him, the MPA, in the murder case of PTI provincial deputy general secretary Malik Tahir Iqbal.

The police sources had said that the accused had confessed that he had gunned down the PTI leader at the instigation of MPA Faisal Zaman alias Jehazan Wala, who promised to pay him Rs2 million for the task.

Malik Tahir Iqbal, reportedly close to Prime Minister Imran Khan, was assassinated along with his friend and former councilor Sardar Gul Nawaz on September 13.

They were on the way back to Ghazi from Kotehra village after offering Fateha for the departed soul of one of their supporters when they came under attack.

Though the family members of Malik Tahir Iqbal did not nominate anybody in the murder case, they had termed the assassination a politically induced incident.