Imran Khan arrested at Islamabad High Court by rangers, despite securing bail

Paramilitary rangers on Tuesday arrested Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan while he was at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for the hearing of a corruption case, his party said.

The Press Trust of India, quoting the Dawn newspaper, reported that ATC Judge Raja Jawad Abbas heard Imran Khan's pleas seeking bail in cases about the March 18 violence outside the Federal Judicial Complex here and approved Khan's bail against bonds worth PKR 50,000 in all seven cases.

The chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who travelled from Lahore to the federal capital Islamabad, was taken into custody by the Federal Rangers when he appeared in court on anti-graft charges, his PTI lawyer Faisal Chaudhry said.

"Mr. Khan has been arrested [over] a land transfer case to property tycoon Malik Riaz and is being handed over to [the] National Accountability Bureau (NAB)," a NAB official.

The cricketer-turned-politician requested the IHC on Tuesday to grant him interim bail in a separate case registered against him for violating Section 144 by holding a rally in Islamabad without the required permission, the report said.

Police registered a case against the PTI chief and other party leaders for holding a rally in Islamabad on Saturday without permission.

Khan also complained to the IHC on Tuesday against the Islamabad police for not facilitating him in joining ongoing investigations against him.

"Khan has been arrested in the Al-Qadeer trust case when he was present in the Islamabad High Court," his party said in a brief statement.

The arrest comes a day after the powerful army had accused Khan of levelling baseless allegations against a senior army officer.

The PTI alleged that Khan was being tortured but it was not confirmed independently.

"State terrorism—breaking into IHC premises to abduct Imran Khan from court premises. Law of the jungle in operation. Rangers beat the lawyers, used violence on Imran Khan and abducted him," tweeted former minister Shireen Mazari, a PTI spokesperson.

Another PTI leader, Azhar Mashwani, alleged that Khan had been "abducted" from inside the court by the Rangers. He said that the party had given an immediate call for staging protests in the country.

"They are torturing Imran Khan right now [ ] they are beating Khan sahib. They have done something with Khan sahib," Cheema said in a video message posted on the party's Twitter handle.

Former information minister and PTI vice president Fawad Chaudhry earlier said the court has been "occupied by the Rangers" and lawyers "are being subjected to torture".

"Imran Khan's car has been surrounded," he added.

Khan has been facing a slew of cases since his ouster through a no-trust vote in April last year. He has rejected all these cases as political victimisation by the ruling alliance.