Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar said on Saturday he'd found three bottles of 'liquor' in the hospital room of incarcerated PPP leader Sharjeel Memon at Karachi's Ziauddin Hospital.
"When Sharjeel Memon was asked [about the liquor], he said they were not his," Justice Nisar said, relating his surprise early-morning visit before hearing cases at the Supreme Court's Karachi registry.
Memon had been under treatment and in judicial custody at the Ziauddin Hospital's Shirin Jinnah branch, where his room had been declared a sub-jail.
He was parcelled off to Karachi's Central Jail soon after the discovery of 'liquor' in his room, as police and hospital authorities scrambled to save face.
The CJP addressed the newly appointed attorney general, saying: "Anwar Mansoor Khan sahib, pay a little attention to this issue as well."
After the CJP's 'raid', the Sindh chief secretary and DIG Prisons Aftab Pathan reportedly reached Ziauddin Hospital in an effort to 'record evidence' and 'take action'.
Two people were subsequently taken into custody in connection with the presence of liquor at the hospital, DIG Aftab told DawnNewsTV.
One was said to be a driver employed by Memon. He claimed that one of the bottles had held cooking oil, and the other honey.
SSP South Omar Shahid Hamid said they'd collected blood samples from Memon and that "there will be an inquiry" and "action will be taken against those found responsible".
The facility housing the PPP MPA was one of three hospitals that the chief justice paid surprise visits to this morning before arriving at the court, DawnNewsTV reported.
Memon booked for possessing intoxicants
Later in the day, Boat Basin police registered a case against Memon and his three servants over possessing intoxicants.
“The police have registered FIR on the complaint of jail official against incarcerated Sharjeel Memon and his three servants,” said South SSP Omar Shahid.
The case has been registered under Section 4 (owning or possessing of intoxicant) of the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order (4 of 1979).
The police have detained three persons including one driver and two servants of Memon, he added.
The jail officials have also handed over some recovered goods to the police for investigation purpose including two alcohol bottles, revealed the SSP South.
The police have also taken DVR from the hospital for investigation purpose, disclosed the SSP.
Liquid in the bottles wasn't liquor: Memon's driver
Jan Mohammad, who was one of the two men taken into custody, told reporters while being taken away that the bottles spotted by the CJP did not contain liquor. One of the bottles had honey while the other contained cooking oil, he claimed.
The two liquids had been poured into bottles of liquor, he claimed, adding that he did not know why he was being taken into custody.
The police officer said security personnel deployed outside Memon's room would also be interrogated. The matter is being investigated by SSP South.
The National Accountability Bureau had filed a reference in 2016 against Memon, the former provincial information minister, and others for allegedly committing corruption from 2013 to 2015 in awarding advertisements of provincial government’s awareness campaigns to electronic media that caused a loss of around Rs3.27 billion.
The former minister along with 11 others had landed in prison in October last year after a division bench of the Sindh High Court dismissed their interim pre-arrest bail applications.
