QUETTA: The Balochistan National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested former adviser to the chief minister on finance, Mir Khalid Khan Langove, in a mega corruption case after the rejection of his bail-before-arrest application by the Balochistan High Court (BHC), here on Wednesday.

NAB officials, who were present outside the BHC premises, took Mr Langove into custody when he exited the court and took him to the bureau’s headquarters for interrogation. The bureau had previously arrested suspended finance secretary, Mushtaq Ahmed Raisani, and three others, including an executive engineer, contractor and a facilitator, in the case after recovering Rs650 million from Mr Raisani’s house.

The bureau had issued three summonses to Mr Langove, asking him to appear before it in Quetta. The respondent, however, failed to appear and got protective interim bail from the Islamabad High Court for 12 days.

He subsequently filed a bail-before-arrest application in the BHC, where a division bench, comprising Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel and Justice Muhammad Hashim Kakar, rejected the application. Senior lawyer and former law minister Farooq H. Naek and Baz Muhammad Khan Kakar represented Mr Langove in court.

The bureau had issued three summonses to the ex-adviserto the CM asking him to appear before it in Quetta. The respondent, however, failed to appear

“We have taken Mr Khalid Langove into custody as warrants for his arrest were issued by the NAB chairman after he failed to appear before the bureau in Quetta despite being issued three summonses,” a NAB official told Dawn, adding that he will be produced before an accountability court on Thursday for remand.

Mr Raisani and three others have already been remanded in NAB custody for investigation into the embezzlement of Rs1.5 billion local government funds. Mr Langove had resigned from his post soon after the finance secretary’s arrest.

Meanwhile, NAB is making efforts to arrest another wanted government official, Saleem Shah, who holds the dual charge of administrator of Khaliqabad and Mach Municipal Committees.

Our Correspondent from Khuzdar adds: A shutter-down strike was observed in Kalat and Khaliqabad area of Mangochar against the arrest of Mir Khalid Langove, former adviser to the Balochistan chief minister on finance on Wednesday.

NAB officials had whisked away Mr Langove from the premises of Balochistan High Court after his pre-arrest bail application was rejected by a division bench of the court.

Workers of the National Party and a large number of Langov tribesmen blocked the National Highway linking Quetta with Karachi suspending traffic.

They forced the shopkeepers to pull down their shutters in the main bazaars in Kalat and Mangochar town. Traffic also remained suspended till late in the evening.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2016