ISLAMABAD, April 19: A man who was arrested on the charge of carrying illegal weapon during a procession of lawyers and political activists outside the Supreme Court on April 13 has turned out to be mentally unstable, sources quoted the police as saying.

Asad Abbas Bukhari, a resident of Attock and an ex-policeman, was caught carrying a 30-bore pistol as he passed through a walk- through outside the apex court building during the fourth hearing of the presidential reference against the chief justice of Pakistan.

Mr Bukhari was taken into custody by the security staff who also recovered 22 rounds and a magazine from his procession.

The sources said Mr Bukhari’s brother, a doctor by profession, told the police that he was mentally unstable and had occasionally been missing from his house for several months.

His mental condition deteriorated after his another brother went missing in Malaysia some years ago, the sources said, adding that due to his mental condition he was expelled from Balochistan police.

Later, he joined a private passenger bus service plying between Lahore and Jhelum as a security guard.

During the interrogation, the accused revealed that he was a security guard and carrying the pistol as he had not found any proper place to hide it. He also claimed that earlier he had saved some policemen from being thrashed by lawyers during the hearing of the presidential reference in the SJC.

Mr Bukhari was produced before the court of law from where the police took his two days’ remand and shifted him to the Adiala Jail.

Earlier, the police were suspicious about the accused as he was a namesake of a high profile person wanted by the law- enforcement agencies, the sources said.

The police said he was not involved in any unlawful activity; however, he was still charged with carrying an illegal weapon for which he would be produced before the court.