PESHAWAR, Jan 21: Former NWFP chief minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao was sent to judicial lock-up on Monday by an accountability court here after expiry of his physical custody with the National Accountability Bureau.

Mr Sherpao, a co-accused in three accountability references, was produced before the court presided over by Said Maroof Khan in the morning.

The deputy prosecutor general of NAB, Mian Fasihul Mulk, stated that the court had earlier remanded him in the custody of the NAB for 15 days, which was completed on Monday. He said he was no longer required by the NAB and they had no objection if he was sent to lock-up.

A large number of policemen deployed on the roads leading to the accountability court resorted to tear-gas shelling and baton-charge to disperse a sizable gathering of pro-Sherpao activists.

The court informed Mr Sherpao and his counsel that Jan 29 had already been fixed in the famous Ring Road reference in which Sherpao was a co-accused and former senator from Fata Haji Gul Sher was the prime accused. The court fixed Jan 29 in other two references against Sherpao: reference about illegal appointments in Education Department in which former provincial minister Habibur Rehman Tanoli was the prime accused; and reference about illegal allotment of plots in the Hayatabad township in which the main accused was former secretary of Housing and Physical Planning Jawed Alam Khanzada. The plea-bargain of Mr Khanzada had been accepted.

Mr Sherpao stated before the court that he was only co-accused in these references and would file bail petitions before the accountability court. The court observed that under the law an accountability court had no powers to entertain bail petitions and only a high court or Supreme Court could release an accused on bail.

Meanwhile, Aftab Sherpao dispelled the impression that he had retuned to Pakistan as a result of any secret deal he had struck with the government.

In his first-ever Press talk after his return to Pakistan following a self-imposed exile of two years, he said he had returned to the country ready to go to the prison and was remanded in the custody of the NAB for 15 days, but despite that his opponents had been airing rumours.

“The people who have been levelling such allegations are themselves trying to hammer out a deal with the government and have till now failed in their efforts,” Mr Sherpao said and added that he did not believe in any secret deals. He complained that he was not treated well during custody and was not allowed the any facility including food from home.

He also refuted news items that he had agreed to enter into plea-bargain with NAB, saying “there are no substantive charges against me as I am co-accused in all the three references.”