Troubles for senior Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Rizwan have increased after the Lahore High Court dismissed his petition against Pakistan’s National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency (NCCIA), asking him to reply to the organization’s queries.
Upon returning from England, Rizwan and opener Imam-ul-Haq were called in for questioning by the NCCIA and were given a multi-page questionnaire each to respond.
While Imam has reportedly filled out the form and handed back his answers to the NCCIA, Rizwan decided to take the matter to court. However, he has received a setback.
Mohammad Rizwan goes to court against NCCIA in an online betting/gambling allegation
According to ESPNcricinfo, Mohammad Rizwan had filed a writ petition in the Lahore High Court against the cybercrime agency, “raising questions about the nature of the investigation and about the jurisdiction of the NCCIA.”
Rizwan filed a second writ petition, citing the lack of specific allegations against him and the NCCIA’s jurisdiction in summoning him.
Cricinfo reports that the questionnaires by the agency were regarding the players’ travel and financial history and personal and career information. The petition reportedly said it was “purportedly in respect of online betting/gambling in the sports of Pakistan cricket.”
His petition, filed by his lawyers, also said that the accusations against him are “absolutely misconceived, concocted, illusionary and vague and nothing more than a vexatious and feeble attempt to malign the interest and reputation of the Petitioner.”
The petition also included suggesting that the ICC’s anti-corruption unit (ACU) should handle such cases and not a Pakistan cybercrime agency.
However, Mohammad Rizwan’s petition was quashed by the Lahore High Court on Thursday in what is learned to have been a short hearing. Rizwan now has the option to either appeal the High Court’s decision or answer the NCCIA’s questionnaire that the court has asked him to do.
Mohammad Rizwan’s mobile phone was taken and not handed back yet
The first inkling that this is a serious matter was when Mohammad Rizwan’s mobile phone was confiscated soon after the Lord’s Test, after which Rizwan, six other players, and two coaches were sent back home and replaced.
Rizwan’s petition revealed that he was “summoned to the lobby of the hotel where the entire team was staying, at 01:00 AM in the night. There, an officer purportedly from some government agency was present.
“Despite no notice with respect to the foregoing, the Petitioner [Rizwan] was interrogated by the said officer and his mobile phone was confiscated from him without providing him with any reason or justification in respect thereof. He was also not informed of any order which, authorized the confiscation of his phone.”
It added that the keeper-batsman handed his mobile “on the assurance that the device would be thoroughly checked and returned back to him within the next 3 hours,” but “the phone has not been handed back to him till date.”
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