A sessions court in Lahore has rejected the bail plea of well-known YouTuber Saadur Rehman, better known to his followers as Ducky Bhai, in the case revolving around his alleged involvement in the promotion of illegal gambling and forex applications.
The decision came when Additional District and Sessions Judge Dr. Sajida Chaudhry delivered her reserved verdict after listening to arguments from both sides earlier in the day.
According to the prosecution, the accusations were not baseless but stemmed from a credible source report that prompted investigators to launch an inquiry into the YouTuber’s online activities. The prosecutor insisted before the court that the digital content produced by the accused actively encouraged the public to put money into platforms that were neither licensed nor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.
He further highlighted that during the investigation, two separate accounts were found linked to the influencer, one containing nearly Rs160 million and another holding approximately Rs50 million. No convincing justification was offered for the massive sums, which raised further suspicion about the alleged unlawful operations.
In contrast, the defence team argued that the proceedings had been riddled with procedural lapses from the very beginning. The counsel stressed that no recovery had been made from his client, no gambling applications were seized during the raid, and no credible witnesses had been brought before the court.
He also underlined the inconsistencies in the timeline of the case, pointing out that the inquiry was initiated on June 30, his client was arrested on August 13, while the First Information Report was lodged several days later on August 17, which, in his view, cast doubt on the legitimacy of the investigation.
The lawyer also emphasized that the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), specifically Section 37, had been wrongly invoked. According to him, if the applications in question were truly unlawful, then the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority should have exercised its authority to restrict access to them, rather than singling out his client. The defence therefore maintained that the charges were exaggerated and the arrest premature.
Despite these assertions, the judge remained unconvinced and concluded that the available evidence warranted continued custody rather than bail. The ruling follows an earlier order on September 23, when a Judicial Magistrate had already dismissed a similar bail application by the same accused.
The matter was originally taken up by the National Cyber Investigation Agency, which on August 17 registered a case under multiple provisions of PECA, including offences related to electronic forgery, fraud, spamming, and spoofing. Alongside these cybercrime clauses, charges were also filed under Sections 294-B and 420 of the Pakistan Penal Code, broadening the scope of the allegations against the YouTuber.
With the latest decision, Ducky Bhai remains in custody as the investigation continues into what authorities describe as a significant case of promoting unlicensed digital financial platforms. The case has drawn notable public interest given the influencer’s large following on social media and the broader debate in Pakistan over regulating online spaces, gambling applications, and digital currencies.