A Rawalpindi special court on Saturday granted the Federal Investigation Agency four-day physical remand of the nine suspects that were arrested a day earlier for allegedly blackmailing the financially crippled through predatory loan apps.
The action against the apps and its staff was taken after a man in Rawalpindi [died] on Wednesday, purportedly by suicide, due to “threats” made by loan apps over his failure to repay the ballooning interest on his debts.
The next day, the FIA’s cybercrime wing had launched an investigation into the matter, following which it arrested nine suspects and booked 19 others.
The suspects were presented in the court of Judicial Magistrate Mujtaba ul Hassan Saturday.
During the hearing, the FIA sought a 14-day physical remand of the suspects, whose counsel sought an acquittal for his clients — a plea that was rejected. During the hearing, the investigation officer said that among the suspects were employees of Sarmaya Microfinance (Pvt) Ltd, which is one of the two licensed apps operating in this sphere. At the outset of the hearing, 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”.
Requesting the court for a 14-day physical remand of the suspects, Niazi said they were employees of Humraah Financial Services Ltd and Sarmaya Microfinance (Pvt) Ltd and used to “blackmail the public”.
“Muhammad Masood committed suicide due to blackmailing and threats from the suspects,” he added.
