An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on Tuesday approved former premier Imran Khan's interim bail pleas for multiple cases, hours before the PTI chief was arrested at the Islamabad High Court by paramilitary Rangers.
ATC Judge Raja Jawad Abbas heard the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief'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 Dawn newspaper reported.
The 70-year-old former premier was arrested on Tuesday by paramilitary Rangers while he was at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for the hearing of a corruption case, a day after he took on the country's powerful army for allegedly hatching a plot to kill him.
"Mr Khan has been arrested in a land transfer case to property tycoon Malik Riaz and is being handed over to National Accountability Bureau (NAB)", a NAB official confirmed to PTI.
Over 140 cases filed against Imran Khan
More than 120 cases have been registered against Khan since he was voted out of office through a no-confidence motion in April last year. He terms all the cases as fake, instituted to keep him out of the political arena.
Currently, Khan is facing over 140 cases related to terrorism, blasphemy, murder, violence, and inciting violence.
Khan ousted in 2022 after no-trust vote
PTI chief Khan was ousted from power in April after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China, and Afghanistan.
Khan, who came to power in 2018, is the only Pakistani Prime Minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament.