LAHORE: The anti-corruption court judge while taking exceptions against the continuous absence of the Investigation Officer (IO) on Monday issued a show cause notice to the latter responsible for failing to submit the case record regarding the post-arrest bail plea filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Pervaiz Elahi.
A lower-ranking official was allegedly appointed as the Chief Minister of Punjab’s Principal Secretary, which is at the heart of the matter.
The IO was given a last chance in court today, and the judge ordered the IO to retrieve the whole case record from the appropriate police department before the next hearing on November 11.
It should be noted that the judge had previously ordered the IO to get the case record, but that order had not been carried out. A similar justification for the IO’s presence in South Punjab was offered during the most recent court session, when it was disclosed that the IO was purportedly in the Arifwala region.
After hearing this, the judge became visibly enraged and announced that he would make a decision on the bail situation regardless of whether or not the case record was supplied at the next hearing.
During the trial, the accused’s attorney, Advocate Amir Saeed Rawn, claimed that the prosecution’s actions demonstrated a lack of commitment to finding a just resolution to the case. He claimed the prosecution’s deliberate delay of ex-Chief Minister of Punjab Pervaiz Elahi’s trial was an attempt to achieve political advantage.
As the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Rawn asked the court to look into the possibility that he had been falsely accused of wrongdoing in “fabricated cases.”
Rawn also voiced his displeasure with the IO for not showing up to earlier hearings despite a court order for the IO to submit the police report. Rawn was extremely critical of the IO’s continued absence despite the court’s order.
In addition, the attorney emphasized that the anti-corruption authorities had not been able to link Pervaiz Elahi to the case in question. He claimed that the lengthy court processes were caused by this lack of evidence.
However, the anti-corruption judge gave specific instructions to the IO to submit the required data and warned that he would make a decision on the bail situation if the records were not delivered as directed.
