KARACHI, March 26: Qari Saifullah Akhtar, an alleged Al Qaeda militant booked for his involvement in suicide blasts during the homecoming procession of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto here on Oct 18, was re-arrested on Wednesday under the Maintenance of Public Order law, minutes after the administrative judge of an anti-terrorism court had ordered his release.

Justice Khawaja Naveed Ahmed ordered the release of Qari Saifullah on bail after the investigation officer reported to the court that no evidence had been found to link him with the blasts.

Karachi police chief Niaz Ahmed Siddiqi told Dawn that Qari Saifullah had been detained for 30 days under the MPO. He was given in police custody on March 15 on a 13-day physical remand for allegedly masterminding the blasts.

The investigation officer, SPO Nawaz Ranjha, submitted a report to the court stating that during initial investigations he did not get enough evidence to file a charge-sheet. The suspect was interrogated during the period given by the court but he denied involvement in the blasts.

Under Section 497of the Criminal Procedure Code, when a person accused of a non-bailable offence is arrested without warrant by an officer-in-charge of a police station, he may be released on bail when he is brought before a court, but he shall not be so released if there are reasonable grounds for believing that he has been guilty of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life or imprisonment for 10 years.

Qari Saifullah was arrested along with his sons from Ferozwala near Lahore on Feb 26 and was handed over to the Crime Investigation Department, Sindh, by the Punjab government on March 14.

The judge accepted the report of the investigation officer and ordered his release on bail.

On March 15, police had presented to the court the last book of late Ms Bhutto in which she had said that Qari Saifullah had hatched a conspiracy in 1995 when her government was dissolved. He had reportedly links with a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan and with a number of similar attacks. He was stated to be the chief of Harkatul Jihad-al-Islami, a banned outfit, and also belonged to a group busted by the military intelligence. The group included four military officers who were accused of plotting to take over the army’s headquarters by assassinating top military commanders and later ousting Ms Bhutto’s government. They were detained at Attock Fort, but Qari Saifullah was later released.