NCCIA gets custody of anchorperson Iqrarul Hassan for four days

A Karachi court on Tuesday handed anchorperson Iqrarul Hassan over to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) on a four-day physical remand.

The agency said Iqrar had been arrested over allegations that he shared anti-state, false and defamatory material on his official social media accounts. He was booked under Sections 9, 10, 24 and 26-A of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).

On Tuesday, the NCCIA produced Iqrar before the judicial magistrate (East) and sought his physical remand for investigation.

The anchorperson’s family had earlier said that men in plainclothes took him from his Lahore residence in the early hours of Monday. One of the men was reportedly wearing an NCCIA identification tag.

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari clarified that the police had not arrested Iqrar, adding that the matter was under investigation.

In a video statement, Farah Iqrar said she and her husband were at their home in DHA when a group of men in plainclothes broke open the main gate and entered the premises at around 3am before taking Iqrar away.

She alleged that the raiding party manhandled her and seized two mobile phones belonging to her husband, a laptop and her own mobile phone. According to her, a masked woman in the group was wearing an NCCIA identification tag.