Court grants 12-day physical remand of attacker Naveed in Imran Khan assassination case

LAHORE – An anti-terrorism court in Gujranwala has approved a 12-day physical of shooter Naveed in the assassination attempt on former Pakistani premier Imran Khan in the Wazirabad case.

The development comes days after police in the provincial capital opened a criminal investigation into a botched assassination attempt on PTI chief Imran Khan.

The Joint Investigation Team of police produced the suspect, Naveed, before the Gujranwala court where Investigation officer Imtiaz Ahmed requested the court to approve a 30-day physical remand.

The presiding judge grilled cops for producing the suspect for remand 10 days after the registration of the case. Later, he approved a 12-day remand.

With the latest development in high profile case which involves the country’s most populous leader, the suspect would be further investigated for other evidence.

The lone shooter Naveed has been nominated in the FIR under sections 302, 324, and 440 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

On Thursday, the hearing of the case was adjourned till November 29.

Failed Assassination

Former prime minister Imran Khan and other leaders of his party were injured earlier this month when one man present among his supporters opened fire on them during the PTI's long march against the government near Wazirabad.

At least one person was killed in the incident. The injured include PTI leader Faisal Javed, Ahmed Chatha, and Umar Dar. The PTI chief received bullets in both his legs and he was shifted to Shaukat Khanum Hospital in Lahore.

The attacker was detained at the scene and shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.

The shooter was identified as Naveed Arain son of Bashir. Police have shared a confession statement of the suspect wherein he can be heard stating: "I wanted to target just Imran Khan."

"I had made a plan to kill Imran Khan the day he kick-started his long march from Lahore," he said, adding that the PTI chief was misleading people.