FAISALABAD: The three suspects allegedly involved in cyber harassment and blackmail ofa student of the Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF) were remanded in the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency for four days on Tuesday.

The suspects – a teacher of the GCUF mass communication department, a student of the department and the ex-husband of the complainant -- had been booked by the FIA on charges of creating objectionable material to harass and blackmail her and sharing it with her brother and other family members.

They were produced in a special FIA court by the agency’s officials who sought their physical remand for further investigation and collecting evidence against them. The court granted the FIA a four days physical remand of the suspects.

The complainant told Dawn that the FIA arrested and booked the suspects some five months after she lodged a complaint with the Prime Minister’s Citizen’s Portal in November last year against her ex-husband and the unidentified persons who had been sharing the objectionable material with her family.

She said that she was first contacted by FIA’s cybercrime wing in December, and was asked to provide some proofs to corroborate her complaint.

In February, 2021, after she submitted evidence to the FIA, her complaint was regularised and the agency started investigation.

The complainant, a mother of three children, said her teacher, one of the suspects, had first tried to convince her to withdraw the complaint and also proposed her for marriage, but she rejected the proposal, saying she wanted to reconcile with her husband.

She said it was shocking for her to know that her teacher had been involved in the case and used his student to defame her to prevent reconciliation with her husband.

She claimed the FIA investigators had recovered important evidence from the laptop and mobile phone of the suspect.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2021