LAHORE – Days after storming the Lahore residence of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, police now raided the Gujrat residence of former chief minister to arrest him in alleged corruption cases.
In the wee hours of Tuesday, a heavy contingent of law enforcers searched at least four places in Gujrat including Kanjah House, Nat House, Nishan-e-Haider House, and Sindhu House, residences of Chaudhrys and their close aides.
During the raid, cops barged into the premises by climbing walls and harassed the staffers. Police parties from around seven police stations cordoned off the area to prevent any possible escape of the PTI leader.
Meanwhile, officials have not shared the reason for midnight action and have not issued any statement about any evidence found during the raid. Law enforcers after interrogating staff members, ended the siege of the PTI leader’s house and left. After searching Elahi’s house, cops moved to Wajahat Hussain’s residence, but no member of Elahi’s family including the PTI president was there.
During the raid, cops repeatedly inquired about the whereabouts of Parvez Elahi, who is at large as a number of cases were underway against him for alleged corruption.
Following the action, PTI leader Moonis Elahi said police barged into their residence without a search warrant; however he said, police was allowed to search premises. The defiant leader said Punjab police conducted a similar raid in the past.
The recent action comes hours before the talks on elections between Imran Khan-led PTI and coalition government members while the former ruling party had already warned that such extreme actions will mar the talks.
Earlier, PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, and several other leaders including some PDM members condemned the police action during the Lahore raid and called for a probe into the matter.