PTI Sindh president Ali Haider Zaidi was arrested from the party’s office in Karachi on Saturday after a case was registered against him at Ibrahim Hyderi police station on charges of “fraud”.

According to the first information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the case was registered under Sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of a property dealer, Fazal Ilahi, against Zaidi and two unidentified persons.

According to the FIR, the complainant told police that Zaidi ran a real estate business in 2013 and had taken a loan of Rs180 million from him. The complainant maintained that as surety, Zaidi give him the papers of a property valued at Rs16.7m and promised to pay the remaining Rs12.5m in the next six months.

An agreement to this effect was signed at Ilahi’s office in the Jamot Para area of Ibrahim Hyderi, the FIR said.

Ilahi alleged in the FIR that he had asked Zaidi several times to transfer the plot in his name but he continued to employ delaying tactics. He further claimed that later, it was revealed that the file of the property given to him by Zaidi was “fake”.

“Despite my frequent requests, the suspect refused to give me the money,” the FIR quoted the comaplainant as saying.

Ilahi alleged that the “suspect’s had ill intentions” and he had “abused his trust and committed fraud”.

In his complaint, Ilahi has also sought police protection from Zaidi for himself and his children.

Police have not issued any official statement on the matter yet.

Earlier, a video posted on PTI’s official Twitter account showed a man, thought to be Zaidi, being escorted into a white automobile by men in civvies surrounded by uniformed police personnel.

In another video from inside the PTI Secretariat, officials can be seen pushing and dragging Zaidi by his arm.

The party’s provincial media department claimed Zaidi was arrested from the PTI Secretariat without a warrant.

“The police entered the party office without any warrant,” the party’s Sindh spokesperson said. “Zaidi was holding a meeting with district representatives [at the time].”

The spokesperson said the police and men in civvies moved Zaidi to an undisclosed location.

“The police personnel also confiscated some mobile phones from the party’s office,” he said, adding that the raid was “illegal”.

PTI condemns arrest

PTI Chairman Imran Khan condemned Zaidi’s arrest, reiterating his claim that it was part of the “London plan”.

“Strongly condemn the arrest of another of our senior leaders, Ali Zaidi, from Karachi. All part of the London plan where Nawaz was given assurances that PTI would be crushed,” he said in a tweet, claiming that over 3,000 PTI workers had been “arrested, abducted and terrorised”.

The PTI chief alleged that a new plan was under way “for more police plus action in Zaman Park after 27 Ramazan or over Eid”.

“They think this will weaken us in case elections are held. Let me state categorically, this will not work. People’s anger is only increasing and they will see the blowback of this nefarious London plan in elections,” said.

Sindh Assembly opposition leader Haleem Adil Sheikh also condemned Zaidi’s arrest, saying the police barged inside the PTI office “illegally” and without any warrant.

“Ali Zaidi should be released immediately,” Shaikh demanded. “This era of injustice will not last long.”

Later, the PTI announced a protest outside Ibrahim Hyderi police station to condemn Zaidi’s protest.

A post on the party’s official Twitter asked PTI workers and lawmakers to assemble outside Ibrahim Hyderi police station at 10:30pm today.

“A protest will be staged outside the police station against PTI Sindh president Ali Haider Zaidi’s arrest,” the statement said.