A court on Wednesday granted bail to Qari Saifullah Akhtar - who had been accused by the former premier of plotting against her in a book published after her assassination in December - because of a lack of evidence.

The court in the southern city of Karachi had ordered police to produce evidence as soon as possible.

But officials on Thursday said Akhtar was immediately detained again under public order maintenance law for one month.

'We have received the custody of the suspect from police for 30 days under MPO (maintenance of public order) law,' Karachi jail superintendent Nusrat Mangan told AFP.

Two-time premier Bhutto was unharmed in the attack on her procession in Karachi, hours after she ended eight years of self-imposed exile on October 18.

However, she was killed two months later in a gun and suicide bomb attack shortly after she addressed an election rally in Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad. -- AFP