New Delhi: Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Rizwan has written a letter to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), seeking the return of his phone and specifying the nature of the inquiry against him in the fallout of Pakistan’s defeat to England in the Lord’s Test.
Rizwan’s phone was taken away from him August 31, a day after Pakistan’s 194-run defeat to England at Lord’s as the visitors kept misfiring with the bat. He claimed that he was told that the device would be returned to him after three hours, which hasn’t been the case till now.
As per Cricinfo, Rizwan has now written an official letter to the NCCIA as he urged the probe body to comply with the Lahore High Court’s latest order. The letter came two weeks after his petition arguing the eligibility of the NCCIA to investigate the matter.
The Court dismissed the plea, asking the cricketer to cooperate with the agency in the matter but also instructed the probe agency not to subject Rizwan to “harassment or unnecessary inconvenience”. The Court had permitted the Pakistan wicketkeeper to approach a court seeking recovery of his mobile, for which he had given the password.
In his letter, Rizwan asked the agency to identify the specific incident it was probing and to inform him when he would have to be present at the agency for inquiry.
It mentioned that the agency has not contacted Rizwan to hand over the phone to him, stating that his surrendering his phone was in itself a cooperation with the inquiry.
Earlier this month, Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq appeared before the NCCIA in Lahore regarding alleged leaks of information from the team’s dressing room. Imam completed his response to the questionnaire, while Rizwan chose to take the matter to court.
The fallout continues after Pakistan’s poor performance in England, where they suffered their first-ever 0-3 defeat on English soil. The PCB sent Rizwan, Imam and five other cricketers home after the second Test defeat.
The PCB reportedly handed the two players’ mobile phones to the relevant authorities following their removal, along with those of five other players from Pakistan’s squad for the England Test series.
According to a report in Pakistan-based The News International, the NCCIA examined financial matters and suspected transactions involving the two players. Investigators probed the two players’ financial dealings before and during the ongoing Test series, and their bank account details are also under scrutiny.
The investigators were also reviewing bank account transactions during this period and, if any are found, will look into the source of the funds.
Rizwan and Imam were among the seven players released from the squad after the disastrous first two Test matches of the three-game series against England. Those seven players were sent home, and the Pakistan Cricket Board brought in seven other players to the squad and later began an “internal disciplinary inquiry.”
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