The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday produced six officers of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) before a local court in Lahore following their arrest on allegations of bribery.
The NCCIA officials, accused of receiving Rs9 million in bribes from the wife of YouTuber Ducky Bhai, were presented before Judicial Magistrate Naeem Wattoo, where the FIA requested their physical remand for interrogation and recovery of the alleged bribe amount.
The arrested officers include Additional Director Chaudhry Sarfraz, Zafar, Shoaib Riaz, Ali Raza, Mujtaba Zafar, and Yasir.
According to the FIA, a case has been registered against the officials for “misuse of authority” and taking bribes to favour a complainant in an ongoing inquiry.
During the hearing today, FIA’s counsel sought physical remand of NCCIA officials and argued that the remand was necessary to complete the investigation and recover the bribed money.
Advocate Ali Ashfaq, who appeared on behalf of NCCIA officials, opposed the request, saying the arrests were made without approval from the DG FIA as required under the law.
He maintained that the complaint lacked key details, including the address of the briber.
Ashfaq also said that the first information report (FIR) was registered within 20 minutes of the complaint. He requested the court to dismiss FIA’s plea for physical remand.
However, after hearing arguments from both sides, the court reserved its verdict on FIA’s physical remand request.
It is worth mentioning here that YouTuber Saadur Rehman, widely known as Ducky Bhai, was arrested in August at Lahore airport by the NCCIA.
The case against the YouTuber was registered by the state through the NCCIA at midnight on August 17.
According to the FIR, the case includes charges under sections 13, 14, 25, and 26 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, as well as sections 294-B and 420 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The YouTuber is accused of promoting various online gambling and betting platforms, including Binomo and 1xBet, through his YouTube channel, the FIR claimed.
