LAHORE: A local magistrate on Saturday extended the physical remand of Pakistan’s top YouTuber Saad-ur-Rehman, popularly known as Ducky Bhai, for two more days in a case involving the promotion of illegal online gambling applications.
Rahman, who commands millions of followers, was arrested on August 17 at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport while attempting to leave the country. He is accused of promoting betting platforms such as 1xBet, Bet365, B9 Game, and Binomo on his YouTube channel. Investigators further alleged that he served as a country manager for Binomo.
The case, registered by the National Cybercrime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), invokes provisions of the Electronic Crimes Act 2016 and the Pakistan Penal Code, covering charges including electronic fraud, forgery, cheating, spamming, and prize-based schemes.
During Saturday’s hearing, NCCIA officials sought additional time, citing forensic analysis of Rahman’s seized devices, which allegedly contained chats about gambling promotions and evidence of foreign money transfers. However, his defense lawyer argued that no substantial evidence had been presented to prove Rahman’s managerial role at Binomo or that his content directly caused public financial losses.
Magistrate Muhammad Naeem Wattoo directed investigators to expedite the probe and ordered Rahman to reappear in court on September 3.
