The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday gave police a one-week extension to recover National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) Deputy Director Muhammad Usman, after his alleged abduction on October 14.
Justice Muhammad Azam Khan conducted the hearing on the petition, days after he gave a three-day ultimatum to the police in the federal capital for Usman’s recovery.
During the hearing, Justice Khan remarked that the court aimed to solve the issue rather than merely give dates.
The lawyer representing Rozina Usman, the wife of the missing officer, told the court that she had also disappeared after filing the petition.
Islamabad Police DSP Legal Sajid Cheema apprised the court that Usman was investigating important cases besides the famed YouTuber Saadur Rehman’s, widely known as Ducky Bhai, case at the time of his alleged abduction.
He revealed that some other members of the NCCIA official’s investigation team were also missing.
The case stems from a first information report (FIR) registered at Shams Colony Police Station on Rozina’s complaint.
In her complaint, she reported that her husband was taken away by four unidentified armed men on October 14.
Rozina stated that the incident took place at around 7:30pm when the armed men arrived in a white car and abducted her husband at gunpoint.
Hearing the case for the first time on October 20, Justice Khan said that the Islamabad IG and the NCCIA’s Central officers should appear before the court in person if the police were unable to recover him within three days.
During the October 20 hearing, Advocate Raja Rizwan Abbasi, who represented Rozina, revealed that the petitioner had also gone "missing."
"I do not know where the petitioner is. I fear that she has also been taken away," Abbasi told the court.
Meanwhile, the court adjourned the hearing of the case until October 31, giving the authorities an extra week to locate and recover the missing NCCIA officer.