A special court in Lahore acquitted Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah in a narcotics case filed against him during the tenure of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in 2019.
Earlier today, Sanaullah and five other co-accused filed a plea seeking acquittal from an alleged drug smuggling case registered with the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF). They argued that the prosecution could provide no evidence to establish the case against them.
The petitioners contended that the judicial file does not have any incriminating piece of evidence against them and emphasised that the story narrated in the first information report (FIR) was ‘concocted and fabricated.
They further informed the court that nothing was recovered from the officials who intercepted them.
The interior minister and other petitioners also claimed this was political victimisation. They maintained that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry had categorically admitted that this case was not lodged during deposed premier Imran Khan’s government and that the claim was filed by ‘influential people within the country.
They further informed the court that the footage of Safe City cameras was also available on the case file, which negated the prosecution’s version. They furthered that the prosecution failed to establish this case, so the proceedings against the petitioners were an abuse of the process of law.
