Lahore High Court Rejects Mohammad Rizwan's Bid to Block Cyber Crime Agency Summons

The Lahore High Court on Thursday threw out Mohammad Rizwan's petition challenging a summons from Pakistan's National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency, according to the Times of India, NDTV and Geo News. Chief Justice Aalia Neelum heard arguments from Rizwan's lawyer, Qazi Umair Ali, and sided with the agency.

"You should go and respond to the notice. On which date was the notice issued to you?" Justice Neelum asked, according to NDTV and the Times of India. Geo News reported she pointed out Rizwan had already complied with an earlier September 10 summons, asking him: "What brings you to court now?"

How this started

The legal fight traces back to Pakistan's Test tour of England, where the team lost all three matches, according to CricTracker and India Today. Pakistan dropped the opener by an innings and 103 runs, then lost the second Test at Lord's by 194 runs. The Pakistan Cricket Board responded mid-series by sending seven players home, including Rizwan and opener Imam-ul-Haq, and swapping in five uncapped players plus a new head coach, Mike Hesson, for the third Test. Pakistan lost that match at Edgbaston by eight wickets too, completing the 3-0 sweep.

Rizwan struggled with the bat in the two Tests he played, scoring 12, 41, 7 and 1, and had also had a rough run in a prior series in the West Indies, per Amanshanti News. Imam suffered a grade-one calf tear during the Lord's Test and didn't bat again in the match, an injury that chief selector Aaqib Javed publicly questioned, according to Amanshanti News. Selector Misbah-ul-Haq resigned after the squad shakeup.

Rizwan and Imam were called to the NCCIA's Johar Town office in Lahore last Thursday, September 10, and handed detailed questionnaires covering travel records, financial history, and personal and professional conduct, according to CricTracker and Amanshanti News. Imam submitted his answers through an intermediary by the agency's September 15 deadline. Rizwan did not. Instead he filed a writ petition on Monday, September 14, arguing no specific allegation had been made against him and that the NCCIA lacks jurisdiction over the matter.

The dispute over what's being investigated

Geo News reported the NCCIA's notice explicitly states it is investigating "online betting and gambling." India Today, citing ESPNcricinfo, reported the inquiry is examining "alleged dressing-room leaks and other information connected with Pakistan's England tour." Neither claim is confirmed by an official NCCIA statement in the record, and it's unclear whether these are two threads of the same investigation or conflicting summaries of a probe that hasn't been publicly detailed by the agency itself.

Rizwan's lawyer told the court his client was pulled into a hotel lobby after the Lord's Test and questioned without ever being formally served a notice, and that his phone was confiscated on a promise it would be returned within three hours, according to the Times of India, NDTV and Geo News. As of Thursday's hearing, the phone still hadn't been returned. Ali argued that amounts to bad faith, and separately contended the ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit, not a domestic cyber crime agency, is the proper body to investigate corruption allegations against cricketers, since no referral to the ICC unit has been made.

If a national agency is compelling a private citizen's phone and financial records without stating a specific allegation, and won't return seized property on the timeline it promised, that raises process concerns. Justice Neelum didn't rule on the merits of that argument. She ruled Rizwan hadn't shown why the court should intervene before he'd even engaged with the agency's process, and ordered him to go respond to the notice directly.

What happens next

The NCCIA is conducting a forensic examination of both players' phones and is expected to submit findings to the PCB next week, according to a source cited by NDTV and the Times of India. The PCB has said its disciplinary decisions on Rizwan and Imam will hinge on what that examination turns up. A separate PCB internal inquiry, described by the board as reviewing "media reports concerning discipline and conduct," is running in parallel, though CricTracker and Amanshanti News both note it remains unclear whether the two investigations are formally linked.

Rizwan has said publicly he is fully cooperating with the PCB's leaks investigation, per India Today. Whether that cooperation extends to answering the NCCIA's outstanding questionnaire is now the immediate question, with the court having closed off his legal detour and sent him back to the agency he was trying to avoid.