LAHORE: The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) on Thursday issued fresh notices to television actor Momina Iqbal and PML-N MPA Saqib Chadhar after new evidence emerged against them in the case pertaining to Iqbal’s alleged harassment.
Iqbal publicly accused Chadhar of online harassment, cyberbullying and threats earlier this year. Her allegations, initially made through social media, triggered widespread attention, and the NCCIA registered a case against Chadhar under several provisions of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) and the Pakistan Penal Code.
Both parties have been summoned for Friday (Sept 4) at the NCCIA office in Lahore. The agency has also constituted a special investigation team to conduct a fresh inquiry into the matter.
NCCIA Punjab’s Deputy Director Waqas Saeed told Dawn that a special team headed by a deputy director would examine the newly obtained digital evidence, along with previously available records in this case.
“The team has been given one month to complete its investigation and submit a report to the NCCIA director general,” he said, adding that further legal action would be decided in light of the findings of the investigation.
The spokesperson said that it would be premature to declare either of the individuals “guilty” or “innocent” before the completion of the inquiry.
Court disposes of pleas
A Lahore court also disposed of PML-N MPA Saqib Chadhar’s and his wife’s pre-arrest interim bail petitions as withdrawn, after the investigating officer said the arrest of the suspects was not required at the present stage.
At the last hearing on July 28, then-investigating officer (IO), SHO Najam Bajwa from the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), had informed the sessions court that Chadhar had been found guilty after investigation.
However, the new IO told the court today that the investigation had changed and the suspects’ arrest was not required at this stage.
The NCCIA had separately summoned Iqbal on September 1, according to the summons order seen by Dawn.
The order said that the suspects had requested a re-investigation of the case on the “basis of some new defence evidence […] Accordingly, your statement regarding the fresh evidence has to recorded”.
Iqbal was also present at the hearing, where the IO informed the court of the development. Following this, Chadhar and his wife withdrew their bail petitions, and the court subsequently disposed of the pleas as withdrawn.
The case
In a social media post in May, Iqbal had alleged that she had been subjected to “online harassment, cyberbullying and death threats for a long time”.
She claimed that both she and her family had suffered severe mental stress and trauma because of the alleged conduct of an MPA, without naming the accused.
“A member of the provincial assembly belonging to the PML-N has been threatening me for an extended period. I repeatedly reported the matter to the NCCIA and the Federal Investigation Agency, but no action was taken,” she stated.
Subsequently, the PML-N’s “top leadership directed the NCCIA to immediately entertain the actor’s complaint and initiate action against the ruling party MPA if the allegations are proven”, a source had told Dawn. The source added that the Punjab Chief Minister’s Office also wanted to clear its name following Iqbal’s allegations against it.
Following these developments, the NCCIA summoned Iqbal and Chadhar on May 21. The agency’s Punjab head Muhammad Ali Waseem said the two were summoned after the NCCIA received Iqbal’s complaint.
The actor had lodged a formal complaint after being summoned for questioning in May, alleging that Chadhar, his wife and other associates had subjected her to a sustained campaign of cyber harassment, stalking, criminal intimidation, blackmail and threats.
Chadhar’s counsel maintained that the two had known each other for several years and disputed the actor’s allegations.
A day after they recorded their statements, Iqbal filed an application with Lahore’s Chung Police for the registration of a first information report against Chadhar.
In her application, she alleged that the PML-N MPA had been making threatening calls to harass her and her fiance. She claimed that the lawmaker turned abusive when she refused his marriage proposal, after it transpired that he was already married to two women.
Subsequently, Chadhar began blackmailing her, she alleged, also mentioning WhatsApp messages and video calls from the suspect in her application. She further alleged that the MPA also sent the same threatening messages to her sister’s mobile phone.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also warned in a post on X that any attempt to exert political pressure, abuse influence, or exploit a woman by threatening to release “personal content” in the case involving Iqbal and Chadhar would be met with “firm and uncompromising action.”
On June 4, the NCCIA registered a case against Chadhar on Iqbal’s complaint under Sections 3 (unauthorised access to information system or data), 4 (unauthorised copying or transmission of data), 21 (offences against modesty of a natural person and minor) and 24 (cyber stalking) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, read with Sections 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and 109 (punishment for abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
