Another missing official of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), Deputy Director Muhammad Usman, who was allegedly kidnapped in Islamabad earlier this month, turned out to be in the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in connection with a case of abuse of authority and extortion, it was learned on Thursday.
Last week, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) gave the police one more week to locate Usman. The development occurred during the hearing of a petition filed by Rozina Usman for the recovery of her husband. She alleged that four armed individuals kidnapped her husband on October 14.
However, as per a brief order dated October 29 by Lahore Judicial Magistrate Naeem Wattoo, Usman was in FIA custody and was kept in physical custody for three days with directions to produce him before the district court on Saturday.
As per the FIA investigating officer’s remand application, the NCCIA official was arrested on Wednesday in connection with a case of collusion with other NCCIA officials, abuse of authority and extortion of bribe.
Usman was nominated in the case registered on Monday by Aroob Jatoi, the wife of YouTuber Saadur Rehman alias Ducky Bhai, who was arrested in a case related to promoting gambling apps on social media.
Apart from Usman, six NCCIA officials from Lahore and Islamabad, NCCIA Deputy Director Ayaz Khan and Inspector Salman Aziz were also nominated in the case.
The first information report (FIR) was registered under Sections 109 (punishment for abetment if the instigated act is committed as a consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment) and 161 (public servant receiving gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of official act) of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 5(2)47 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, which deals with criminal conduct of public servants.
He stated that the NCCIA had arrested Rehman and the investigation of his case was assigned to NCCIA Lahore deputy director Shoaib Riaz.
The FIR said that during the investigation it was found that Riaz “abused his authority” to “extort 9 crore people” through his front men from Rehman’s family. Further, it was alleged in the FIR that Riaz also conspired with Rehman’s lawyer Chaudhry Usman for this purpose.
According to the FIR, Riaz extorted Rs 6 million on the pretext of “providing relief to Aroob Jatoi” and another Rs 3 million for the judicial remand of Rehman, who had been in physical remand.
In August, Riaz extorted Rs 6 million in cash through his leader Aziz in Sheikhapura, while the remaining Rs 3 million was obtained through three checks of Rs 1 million each through another leader identified as Shehbaz, the FIR alleged.
He added that Riaz handed over Rs 5 million to a friend of Lahore NCCIA deputy director (acting in-charge) Zawar Ahmed for safekeeping, while Rs 500,000 was handed over to Salman Aziz, lawyer Chaudhry Usman and additional director Sarfaraz each.
Riaz himself kept Rs 2 crore, the FIR said, adding that during the investigation it was also found that he had transferred $326,420 from Rehman’s account to his own through Binance.
“During investigation, the suspects were found guilty of misleading the family of detained Saadur Rehman to provide relief and abusing their authority,” the FIR stated. “During the investigation, it was also discovered that the suspects operated in a network and abused their authorities, accepting cash bribes on a monthly basis to facilitate call centers, aggregate companies and people involved in online frauds. After keeping their shares, they gave the rest of the amount to superiors.”
The officials at NCCIA headquarters received these amounts through Muhammad Usman and Ayaz, the two deputy directors of NCCIA in Islamabad, according to the FIR. Sarfaraz and Zawar in Lahore would hand over Rs 1 million to the two officials in Islamabad almost every month, and the latter would then transfer it to the superiors, the FIR said.
He added that FIA Lahore Anti-Corruption Circle deputy director Syed Zainul Abideen has been assigned to investigate the case.
