Lahore: Pakistan`s Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif`s son-in-law Ali Imran Yousuf was arrested over a bakery employee`s assault by his security guards and remanded to judicial custody for a fortnight by a court on Thursday.
Amidst tight security, Yousuf was produced in the court of a judicial magistrate this morning after spending the night in police custody.
During a brief hearing, the investigation officer told the judge that Yousuf should be remanded to judicial custody to facilitate the investigation.
The judge accepted the police officer`s request and remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days.
He put off the hearing of a bail application filed by Yousuf`s lawyer till tomorrow.
Yousuf was arrested after he surrendered at a police station in the posh Defence neighbourhood last night following Sharif`s direction to authorities to include him in an investigation into the assault of an employee of a bakery by policemen assigned to guard the Chief Minister`s daughter and son-in-law.
Sharif told officials to act against his son-in-law amidst growing pressure from the media and calls from several political parties for Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to take notice of the incident.
Footage from the bakery`s CCTV cameras aired by TV news channels showed Yousuf`s wife Rabia Imran threatening the worker of the bakery after he refused to serve her as the shop was closed.
Rabia`s private security guards and police commandos were also filmed by the CCTV cameras assaulting the bakery`s employee.
The incident had occurred on October 7 but became public only a few days ago.
According to the police, Yousuf was charged under Section 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which covers the abetment of a criminal act.
Sharif said in a statement: "I strongly believed in the rule of law throughout my life and in my capacity as Chief Minister of Punjab, I consider myself answerable to Allah Almighty and the people of the province."
The Chief Minister also held a meeting with his media managers yesterday to identify those who had leaked the incident to the media, sources said.
In a related development, a judicial magistrate has granted bail to seven Elite Police Force personnel and a private bodyguard involved in the incident.
PTI
