A special police team was constituted on Saturday to probe a case registered against PPP leader Sharjeel Memon and three others for the alleged possession of liquor, it was learnt on Sunday.

The incarcerated former minister, his driver and two servants were booked by police yesterday under Section 4 (owning or possessing intoxicant) of the Zia-era law, The Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order (4 of 1979).

The section under which the case has been registered reads: "Whoever owns, possesses or keeps in his custody any intoxicant shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term, which may extend to two years, or with whipping not exceeding thirty stripes, and shall also be liable to fine."

The case was registered after Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar paid a surprise visit to Ziauddin Hospital in Clifton on Saturday, during which he found three bottles of liquor in the room of the ex-minister, who told the CJP that the bottles did not belong to him.

Jan Mohammad, Memon's driver, told reporters while being taken away that the bottles spotted by the CJP did not contain liquor. One of the bottles contained honey while the other contained cooking oil, he claimed.

SSP South Omar Shahid Hamid said yesterday that police had collected blood samples from Memon and that "there will be an inquiry" and "action will be taken against those found responsible". The results of the blood tests have not yet been made available.

The SSP had also said the police seized the bottles given to them by the jail officials and sent them to a forensic lab for examination, and that police investigators had also obtained DVR footage from the hospital.

The team comprising Deputy Inspector General South Javed Alam Odho, Senior Superintendent Police Investigation South Abdullah Jan and SSP Investigation East Shabbir Memon, was constituted "for the purpose of completion of investigation of case FIR no. 398/2018 u/s 4 Prohibition Ordinance", a police notification dated Sept 1 said.

Memon was parcelled off to Karachi's Central Jail soon after the discovery of 'liquor' in his room, as police and hospital authorities scrambled to save face.

Meanwhile, the three arrested servants were brought before the court on Sunday. The court issued orders for the three to be sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

With additional reporting from Shafi Baloch.