The Sindh High Court (SHC) has rejected the bail petitions of Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani and seven others accused in assets beyond means case, it was reported on Wednesday.

The verdict reserved on the pleas of 18 accused in the case was announced by a two-member bench of the SHC today (Wednesday).

The SHC, while rejecting the bails of Siraj and the other seven accused in the case, approved the bails of the speaker's wife and daughters.

NAB converts inquiry against Durrani into investigation

Earlier, Siraj, his brother Agha Maseehuddin Durrani, his daughters Sanam Durrani, Shahana Durrani, Sarah Durrani, Tufail Ahmed, Zulfiqar, Agha Munawar Ali, Ghulam Murtaza, and Gulbahar were named in the charges.

The accountability watchdog had ordered an inquiry on charges of corruption against the Sindh Assembly speaker. The NAB prosecution named 20 persons including Siraj as accused in the reference filed in accountability court Karachi after an inquiry.

The accused were involved in corruption of up to Rs1.6 billion, NAB stated in the charge sheet. Following that the bureau arrested Durrani from a hotel in Islamabad in February last year.