The Supreme Court has demanded an explanation from the National Accountability Bureau regarding the arrest of Mudarba scandal accused Saif-ur-Rehman from the court premises, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The Acting Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan, Umar Ata Bandial, on Monday took notice of the Mudarba scandal accused Saif-ur-Rehman arrest from the court premises by the anti-graft body asking the latter to explain its position as why it detained the accused and interfered in the court matter.

The counsel for the accused, Latif Khosa advocate told the court that his client was coming to the court for his pre-arrest bail. But the NAB vehicle hit the car of his client making it pull over and arrested him from the court premises.

The acting chief justice of Pakistan ordered the NAB to present the accused before the court.

The NAB prosecutor general extended his unconditional apology over the arrest of Mr Rehman. The court asked him what was the urgency that the NAB had to arrest the accused in such a dramatic manner. 

Justice Muneeb Akhtar ordered to produce the CCTV footage of the accused’s arrest during the next hearing of the case. He said the judges were there to protect the sanctity of the court. 

Justice Bandial remarked that he would not allow the sacrilege of the court premises. He said that the NAB officials who detained the accused would be identified after scrutinizing the CCTV footage.

The court summoned the record of NAB officials’ recruitment who detained Mr Rehman. The court also demanded an answer regarding the training of NAB and police officials. 

The acting CJP said that rule of law was paramount. He remarked that if NAB wanted to make recovery, it should be within the ambit of law. The NAB should not recover the looted money by harassing the citizens, he added. 

“The rule of law is of greater importance than that of the recovery of NAB,” the acting CJP said. 

Later, the court accepted the interim bail of accused Saif-ur-Rehman against a surety bond of Rs 1 million. 

The ape court also summoned Rawalpindi NAB DG and DG HR during the next hearing of the case.

The court ordered the arrested NAB officials involved in the detaining of accused Rehman to submit surety bonds worth Rs 0.1 million each. 

Reporter Amanat Gishkori