YouTuber case: Five NCCIA officials sent to jail for alleged misuse of authority

LAHORE: A city magistrate on Thursday sent five officials of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) including Additional Director Sarfraz Chaudhry to jail on judicial remand in a case of alleged misuse of authority and extorting money from an arrested YouTuber Saadur Rehman alias Ducky Bhai.

Earlier, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) produced the six officials before the court including Additional Director Sarfraz Chaudhry, Deputy Director (acting in-charge) Muhammad Zawar Ahmad, Assistant Directors Shoaib Riaz and Mujtaba Zafar, and Sub-Inspectors Ali Raza and Yasir Ramzan and sought their five days further remand.

The magistrate, however, only extended the remand of Assistant Director Shoaib Riaz for two more days and sent the others officials to jail.

The magistrate noted that the prosecution was warned at the last hearing that further remand would not be allowed without any solid reason.

He observed that the investigation would not be completed even in 14 months at the current pace of the agency’s working and sent the five officials to jail on judicial remand.

Separately, Arooj Jatoi wife of Youtuber withdrew her pre-arrest bail from a sessions court in the case of promoting gambling apps on social media.

The woman appeared before the court along with her counsel and sought permission to withdraw her bail plea and court allowed the same accordingly.

The NCCIA had registered a case against Yputuber Saadur Rehman, his wife and other Youtubers.

The agency said that the suspects were allegedly members of an international gambling racket and had been promoting gambling applications on social media for huge money.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025