The Islamabad High Court on Friday declared a trial court's verdict upholding the maintainability of a criminal complaint against former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan over the Toshakhana case as 'void'. IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq ordered the trial court to decide the matter in a rehearing of the case.
The High Court also rejected Khan's plea to transfer the case to another court and issued a notice against the sessions court's decision to reject the list of witnesses, Geo News reported.
“The petitioner shall ensure addressing of arguments positively on the issue when the matter is fixed by the court for final arguments. The trial court shall address the issues raised in the referred petitions while deciding the matter,” read the order.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has been asked to probe into certain alleged posts on the session judge’s Facebook account and produce a report within 15 days.
Meanwhile, the district and sessions court in Islamabad has summoned the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief on Saturday in the Toshakhana case. Khan's counsel Gohar Ali pleaded with the court to grant an exemption to his client from personnel appearance.
The case relates to the charges that the former PM "intentionally hid" subtleties of the gifts he held from the Toshaskhana — a storehouse where presents gave to government authorities from unfamiliar authorities are kept — during his tenure as the prime minister, and continues from their revealed deals.
Imran Khan was indicted in the Toshakhana case on May 10 by Additional Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar, who dismissed protests about the admissibility of the case. However, the IHC declared the Toshakhana body of evidence held up against former prime minister Imran Khan "inadmissible".
However, four days later, the district and sessions court on Saturday upheld the maintainability of the criminal complaint filed against him on charges of hiding the details of Toshakhana gifts. The verdict was challenged at the IHC.
On August 2, the trial court also rejected the PTI chairman’s witnesses, stating that he failed to prove their “relevance” in the criminal proceedings against him. It was also challenged in the high court.
