Tax data of General Bajwa’s family: Court rejects plea to extend physical remand of journalist

ISLAMABAD: A local court, on Monday, rejected the prosecution’s request to extend the physical remand of the journalist, who was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for his purported part in the leaks of the former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s (retd) family members tax data and send him to jail on judicial remand.

The FIA produced the journalist, Shahid Aslam before Judicial Magistrate Umar Shabbir after the expiry of his two days of physical remand.

The court, after hearing arguments of both prosecution and defense counsel, reserved its verdict over the prosecution’s application to extend the physical remand of the accused. Later while announcing its reserved judgment, sent the journalist to jail on 14 days’ judicial remand.

During the hearing, the investigation officer (IO) of the FIA told the court that the suspect has so far not provided the password of his laptop. The accused has not given a satisfactory answer to the questions asked of him during the investigation, he further said.

He further told the court that the laptop and mobile phone of the accused has been sent to the forensic lab for breaking passwords. The accused confessed during the investigation that he was getting data from the different officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), he said, adding that the suspect also confessed that he visited the FBR office for obtaining data.

The prosecutor requested the court to extend the physical remand of the accused in order to complete the investigation.

The defense counsel, while arguing before the court, said that police have arrested his client in his absence. He further told the court that the data of family members of Justice Qazi Faez Isa was leaked but no institution has heard the case. The FIA was sleeping in Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s case, he said.

He further told the court that the agency has not produced a single piece of evidence during the last two days. The WhatsApp of his client remained active during the last two days, he said, adding that if the agency did not have the password of his client’s mobile and laptop then how did they get access to his WhatsApp?

The counsel further said that the agency is just pretending that they did not have the password of his client. He requested the court to discharge his client from the case. The court after hearing the arguments of both parties reserved its judgment.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023