Court rejects police request for physical remand of Haleem Adil Sheikh

KARACHI: A district and sessions court in Karachi on Tuesday rejected the police request for physical remand of Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh and sent him to prison on judicial remand in a case related to land grabbing.

A day earlier, the PTI leader was taken into custody by the Anti-Encroachment Force (AEF) soon after he was released on bail in a terrorism case.

During the course of the proceedings, Sheikh accused the police of torturing and strangling him in the custody.

Responding to the court’s query, the police investigation officer said that he "only grabbed Sheikh's shirt to save him as he was falling" .

Strongly opposing the police’s request, Sheikh’s counsel argued that the FIR against his client was lodged by a “tapedar” and there is not a single private witness in the case.

“The Leader of the Opposition was taken into custody without the permission of the Sindh Assembly’s speaker," argued his counsel.

On the other hand, while giving arguments, the prosecutor said that a notice was served to Sheikh after the registration of the case against him but he "didn't cooperate" in the investigation. He pleaded with the court to grant the police physical remand of the suspect.

The court, after hearing both sides, rejected the police request and sent the PTI leader to jail on judicial remand. The district and sessions judge directed the police to submit the case challan at the next hearing.

'Tortured, strangled at police station'

A video of Sheikh from the hearing surfaced on Twitter where he was seen accusing the police of torturing and "strangling" him in custody.

"They didn’t give me a single thing to eat for two days. I am not a terrorist but was isolated in the terrorists’ cell for 10 days," Sheikh said in the video while showing a bruise on his leg.

He said that he has a rod in his leg due to which he has a puss infection, but is not being given medical treatment for it.

Sheikh protested that he was arrested from prison in a new case.

Sheikh arrested in Jamshoro

The Anti-corruption Establishment, Sindh (ACE) had arrested Sheikh in a property transfer case on July 27.

The PTI leader went to the anti-corruption's office in Jamshoro to record his statement in a case pertaining to allegedly raising a loan from a bank on the basis of fake property documents.

The institution, as he recorded the statement in the office of Deputy Director ACE Zeeshan Memon, arrested him, according to sources.

This was the second time in the same month that the ACE arrested Sheikh in the case.

The ACE had arrested Sheikh on July 6 from Lahore, but later, the Lahore High Court (LHC) ruled the detention of the opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly to be "unlawful" and granted him protective bail.