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A court on Tuesday granted a three-day physical remand of National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) officers arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for allegedly misusing their authority and extorting millions of rupees from the family of YouTuber Saad ur Rehman, popularly known as Ducky Bhai.
The agency produced six NCCIA officers before a Lahore court on allegations of receiving millions in bribes from Ducky Bhai’s wife Aroob Jatoi. The accused officers were presented before Judicial Magistrate Naeem Wattoo, where the FIA sought their physical remand to further investigate the case and recover the alleged bribe money. Those taken into custody include Additional Director Chaudhry Sarfraz, Shoaib Riaz, Ali Raza, Mujtaba Zafar, Yasir, and Zafar.
According to the FIA, a case has been filed against them for misuse of authority and accepting illegal payments to grant undue relief to a complainant during an ongoing inquiry. During the hearing, the FIA’s counsel argued that physical remand was essential to complete the investigation and trace the bribe amount.
Defense Challenges Legality of Arrests and FIR Timing
However, Advocate Ali Ashfaq, representing the NCCIA officers, opposed the request, arguing that the arrests were made without approval from FIA Director General Riffat Mukhtar Raja, which he claimed was required under law. He further stated that the complaint lacked key information, including the address of the alleged briber, and pointed out that the FIR was registered just 20 minutes after the complaint was filed.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court approved a three-day physical remand of the accused NCCIA officials for further investigation.
The NCCIA had initially arrested Ducky Bhai on August 17, 2025, at Lahore Airport. The grounds for his arrest were allegations of promoting illegal online gambling and betting applications, such as Binomo, 1xBet, and Bet365, to the public via his social media channels for personal monetary gain, thereby defrauding users. The agency had registered a case against him under multiple sections of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016, and the Pakistan Penal Code.
