The Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) suspended on Thursday the arrest warrant of Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah in a case pertaining to the acquisition of plots in a housing society.

Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan heard the petition against Rana Sana’s arrest warrant, and stopped the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) from taking any action on the arrest warrant.

The court issued a notice to the anti-corruption investigation team and summoned them on October 17 along with the case records.

On October 8, Rawalpindi’s Senior Civil Judge (Criminal Division) Ghulam Akbar issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for the interior minister over his alleged failure to join the investigation in the case.

The PML-N leader is accused of taking two plots from the owner of a private society as a bribe and registering an illegal society.

Adviser to Punjab Chief Minister for Anti-Corruption retired Brigadier Musaddiq Abbasi had, in a media briefing earlier this month, said that Sanaullah had received two plots as bribe from an illegal housing society - the Bismillah Housing Scheme - in Chakwal district.

A team of the ACE team raided his Islamabad residence on October 10 but had to return empty-handed. It cited the lack of cooperation by the Islamabad police as the reason. The Islamabad police countered that ACE had refused to present the record in the case.