Three senior officers of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) have resigned amid a growing scandal involving bribery, abuse of authority, and accusations of torturing a YouTuber, while the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is moving slowly in its investigation against the officials accused of corruption.
The Interior Ministry accepted the resignations of Deputy Director Sarfaraz Chaudhry, Assistant Director Muhammad Usman, and Assistant Director Shoaib Riaz, an official NCCIA statement has stated.
The notification said that the officers’ employment was terminated on November 20. Assistant Director Asma Majeed has also resigned.
The resignations come weeks after the NCCIA saw a massive corruption scandal in October exposing what investigators termed a coordinated network operating within the anti-cybercrime agency.
The inquiry revealed that officials allegedly accepted monthly cash bribes to “facilitate” call centres, aggregator companies and individuals involved in online fraud.
Nine NCCIA officials were booked in Lahore and another 12 in Islamabad for allegedly extracting large sums of money from suspects and call centres.
Investigators say the suspects operated as an organised group, misusing their authority to protect illegal operations rather than curb them.
Sources further claimed that some suspects are also being probed for links to a so-called “blasphemy gang” accused of framing individuals, deepening the gravity of the case.
Despite the scale of the scandal, the FIA’s handling of the investigation has raised serious questions. All nine officials are currently in jail, yet, according to sources, no extensive interrogation has taken place.
“The FIA has yet to complete the challan and submit it in court,” a source said, adding that the delay has fuelled suspicions that the agency may be attempting to “save” its former employees, many of whom previously served in the FIA Cyber Crime Wing before the NCCIA was established in May last year.
When contacted by media, an FIA spokesperson offered little clarity, saying only that “the matter is under probe.”
Nine NCCIA officers were charged with receiving bribes and abusing their power in the case against YouTuber Saad ur Rehman, also known as Ducky Bhai, for allegedly promoting gambling apps on social media and through call centers. Later, Ducky Bhai said that when he was being held by the NCCIA, Deputy Director Sarfaraz Chaudhry “brutally tortured” him.
Aroob Jatoi, his wife, accused Sarfaraz and other officials of stealing over Rs. 100 million in both local and foreign currency.
The accused allegedly kept their own shares and split the remaining proceeds among other members of the “official gang,” according to the First Information Report filed against the officials under Sections 109 (punishment of abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment) and 161 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act) of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 5(2) 47 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.
Sources revealed an even darker aspect of the issue beyond financial corruption, citing allegations that certain NCCIA officers had exploited female victims. “The anti-cyber crime body appears to have become part of the problem rather than curbing it,” one source remarked.
While only four resignations have been confirmed so far, insiders believe that as many as 20 suspected officials may eventually be dismissed as pressure mounts on authorities to clean up the scandal-ridden agency.
