Arsalan Khawaja, brother of Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja, was arrested in Sydney in connection to a fake terror “hit list”, police said on Tuesday.

According to media reports, the 39-year-old was held after the discovery of a fake terror plot to kill senior politicians. Arsalan Khawaja allegedly created the “hit list” to “set up” a colleague at work, and the two were apparently fighting over a woman.

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He arrested around 8.30am on Tuesday, when he was pulled over while driving through Parramatta in Sydney’s west and was taken to the local police station, Canberra Times reported.

Khawaja was charged with attempting to pervert justice, by giving untrue evidence in proceedings against his colleague Kamer Nizamdeen, and forgery, by making a false document.

Khawaja was produced before a Parramatta court later.

According to the police, Khawaja wrote a fraudulent diary entry that led to a terror charge against Sri Lankan national Mohamed Kamer Nilar Nizamdeen. The charge has now been withdrawn.

“What we will be alleging is that he was set up in a planned and calculated manner, motivated in part by personal grievance,” Assistant Commissioner Mick Willing, of the NSW Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Command, told reporters.

In August this year, PhD student Nizamdeen was arrested and had been held in custody for one month after authorities found a notebook mentioning potential attacks on Sydney landmarks and then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his former deputy Julie Bishop.

The authorities dropped all charges against Nizamdeen in October, after a handwriting expert found no “conclusive” proof that the writing was Nizamdeen’s.

Nizamdeen is now seeking legal costs and compensation, 9News reported.