Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Friday arrested Dr Shahid Masood from court premises after Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani dismissed his pre-arrest bail, DawnNewsTV reported.

Masood, who is accused of being involved in the embezzlement of Rs38 million from state-run broadcaster Pakistan Television, is being shifted to FIA's Zonal office.

An Islamabad district court had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for the anchor. However, Masood had obtained an interim bail. Last month, a special court had rejected the anchorperson's application for confirmation of interim pre-arrest bail. A few days later, the TV anchor had challenged the special court's decision in the IHC.

During today's hearing, Masood's counsel Shah Khawar argued that the anchor had not been nominated in the first information report lodged for the case.

Meanwhile PTV's lawyer, Mohammad Nazeer Jawad, told the court that Kashif Rabbani was also a suspect in the case, however, he had returned more than Rs10m after his bail was denied.

Roshan Mustafa Gillani, another suspect, also returned Rs8m. Both Rabbani and Gillani had said that the remaining amount was to be returned by Masood, the PTV lawyer told the court.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the judge dismissed the anchor's appeal for a pre-arrest bail.

According to the prosecution, Dr Masood had signed an agreement with a fake company to negotiate with the Pakistan Cricket Board for grant of rights to the PTV for coverage of cricket matches played in Pakistan. Because of the agreement, the PTV had to face heavy losses.