- Additional director Sarfraz Chaudhry named among suspects.
- Officials accused of accepting Rs 9 million bribe from Ducky Bhai’s wife.
- FIA shows recovery in excess of alleged bribe: Defense lawyer.
A court in Lahore on Monday extended the remand of six officials of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), who are facing corruption allegations, in the YouTuber Ducky Bhai case.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented the arrested officials, including Additional Director Sarfraz Chaudhry, before a local court in Lahore after their remand expired.
The arrested officers include Zafar, Shoaib Riaz, Ali Raza, Mujtaba Zafar and Yasir, accused of receiving Rs 9 million in bribes from the YouTuber’s wife.
During Monday’s hearing, the FIA requested the court to extend the pretrial detention of the suspects in the white-collar crime case.
The FIA prosecutor told the court the case involved financial fraud and further information was needed from the victims. He added that Rs 45.8 million has been recovered from the suspects so far.
The prosecutor argued that the suspects’ custody was necessary to continue the investigation to find other victims and recover more funds.
On the other hand, Mian Ali Ashfaq — the suspects’ lawyer — opposed the FIA’s request, arguing that the complainant had alleged a loss of only Rs9 million, while the agency has already demonstrated recoveries of Rs45.8 million.
He questioned the legitimacy of the case, saying it was “strange” that there were no complainants and that the FIA itself was trying to locate them. “If someone does not approach the court themselves, the law cannot help them,” he added.
The suspects’ lawyers further argued that no individual has so far recorded a statement against the suspects.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court initially reserved its verdict on the FIA’s remand application. Later, the judicial magistrate announced the reserved verdict, extending the pretrial detention for three days.
According to the FIA, a complaint was filed against the officials for “abuse of power” and accepting bribes in favor of a complainant as part of an ongoing investigation.
It is worth mentioning that YouTuber Saadur Rehman, widely known as Ducky Bhai, was arrested in August at the Lahore airport by the NCCIA.
The case against the YouTuber was registered by the state through the NCCIA on August 17 at midnight.
According to the First Information Report (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 gaming and betting platforms, including Binomo and 1xBet, through his YouTube channel, the FIR claims.
