LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Saturday rejected a police request for further physical remand of Shahrez Khan, a nephew of PTI founding chairman Imran Khan, in the Jinnah House attack case and sent him to jail on judicial remand.

Earlier, the police produced the suspect before the court on completion of his eight-day physical remand.

The investigating officer stated that the police recovered a club (danda) from the custody of the suspect and his photogrammetric test had also been conducted. He sought further physical remand of the suspect to complete the investigation of the incident.

Advocate Salman Akram Raja opposed the plea for further remand and argued that Shahrez Khan was not even present in Lahore on May 9, 2023. He said the suspect had gone to Chitral with his friends.

The lawyer also submitted sworn affidavits from Shahrez Khan’s friends in support of his argument.

Advocate Raja stated that Shahrez is one of the country’s top athletes and had been implicated in the case solely because he is a nephew of Imran Khan. He asked the court to reject the police request and discharge Shahrez from the case.

After hearing both sides, ATC-I Judge Manzer Ali Gill reserved a decision on the prosecution’s request for Shahrez Khan’s physical remand.

Later, the judge sent the suspect to jail on a 14-day judicial remand and directed the investigating officer to submit challan within a stipulated time.

During the hearing, Shahrez Khan’s mother Aleema Khan, his aunt Uzma Khan and other PTI leaders were also present in the court.

Two days ago, the court also denied the police further custody of Aleema’s another son Shershah Khan, sending him to jail on judicial remand in the same case.

Sarwar Road police had registered FIR No 96 against the PTI leaders and workers on charges of attacking and vandalising the Jinnah House during the May 9 riots erupted after the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan in a graft case by the NAB from the Islamabad High Court.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2025