Online loan app case: Court grants physical remand of 9 suspects

RAWALPINDI: A Rawalpindi special court on Saturday granted the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) four-day physical remand of the nine suspects, who are alleged members of online loan apps involved in blackmailing people, ARY News reported.

According to details, the FIA’s Cyber Crime Cell presented the arrested suspects in the court of Judicial Magistrate Mujtaba ul Hassan.

During the hearing, the agency sought a 14-day physical remand of the suspects, whose counsel sought an acquittal for his clients — a plea that was rejected.

FIA Inspector Badar Shahzad Khan Niazi informed the court that the suspects comprised “two call centre representatives, three team leads, two quality team leads and two operational managers”.

“Muhammad Masood committed suicide due to blackmailing and threats from the suspects,” he added. The FIA official further said that mobile phones of the detained suspects were also yet to be recovered.

“The threats made to deceased Muhammad Masood via WhatsApp are also yet to be traced,” he told the court.

Meanwhile, the suspects’ counsel argued that the FIA registered the case based on a report on social media and had not conducted an investigation.

He further said his clients had “given the loan through Halal (lawful) means, asking for whose return was their right”.

However, the judge responded that the suspects could not be acquitted during the initial stage. “A person has lost his life and the FIA will find out the truth,” he added.

Subsequently, the court granted the FIA a four-day physical remand of the suspects.

It is pertinent to mention here that the action against the Online loan apps was taken after a man in Rawalpindi named Mahmood Masood committed suicide, days after taking a loan of Rs13,000 from an online company.

Following the incident, the FIA swung into action and arrested nine staff members of online loan apps involved in blackmailing people.