FIA registers case against Imran Khan over cypher ‘disappearance’

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has registered a case against PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan for allegedly “misplacing” the US cypher which he had blamed for initiating the ouster of his government, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The FIA’s Anti-Terrorism Wing had lodged the case on Tuesday and its officers of DIG rank will investigate the matter.

Senior PTI leader and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was also nominated in the case, sources in the FIA said.

In a related development, ex-prime minister’s principal secretary Azam Khan appeared before the joint investigation team at the FIA headquarters after he was summoned in connection with the cypher probe.

According to sources, Azam Khan was quizzed about the “disappearance” of the cypher.

In late July, then Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had stated that the FIA had summoned Imran Khan in connection with the cypher controversy.

His statement came a day after the former prime minister’s personal secretary, Azam Khan, had called the cypher narrative “baseless” and claimed it was concocted to deflect attention from an impending no-confidence motion against the PTI government.

Shehbaz Sharif had also in his farewell address to leaders of the coalition parties as prime minister gad said that the US cypher, which was highlighted by Imran Khan for political interests, was actually a ‘grave conspiracy’.

Reporters Tayyab Saif and Farzana Siddique