RAWALPINDI: An accountability court on Sunday approved an eight-day physical remand each of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi in a new Toshakhana reference. 

The development comes just a day after the couple received a much-needed relief after a court acquitted them in the iddat case — also known as the un-Islamic nikah case — but it was short-lived as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested the couple in a new Toshakhana reference.

Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka had a day earlier nixed the couple's conviction — in which they were sentenced to seven years in prison and awarded a fine of Rs500,000 each after a trial court found their nikah to be fraudulent as Khawar Maneka, Bushra's ex-husband, moved the court against the couple's marriage.

However, soon after the verdict overturning their conviction, a team of the anti-corruption watchdog headed by Deputy Director Mohsin Haroon arrested the couple in the Adiala Jail in the new reference related to alleged "misuse of power for acquiring Toshakhana gifts".

The PTI, after securing a key legal victory after a 13-member Supreme Court bench declared the party eligible for the allocation of reserved seats, was looking forward to their founder's release — which if it had happened would've given a major boost to the former ruling party.

The accountability court today directed anti-graft watchdog to interrogate the two suspects in Adiala jail and also ordered to produce the couple before the court on July 22. 

Khan's lawyer Zaheer Abbas Chaudhary, while speaking to media persons, said that NAB had requested a 14-day physical remand of PTI founder and Bushra. 

Chaudhary said that they opposed the physical remanded, pleading that they have engagements in the £190 million reference. 

The lawyer said that the ex-premier and his wife's arrest was against the law, adding that their petition seeking bail was already being heard in the Supreme Court.