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ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Thursday ordered the recovery of missing National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) Deputy Director Muhammad Usman within three days and asked police to identify his abductors.
Justice Muhammad Azam Khan issued a two-page written order, directing the station house officer of Shams Colony police station to submit a detailed report by Oct 24. The order also sought the call data of petitioner Rozina Usman’s mobile phone from the SHO concerned.
The court warned that if the abducted officer was not recovered within the given time, the NCCIA director general and the Islamabad inspector general of police (IGP) would be summoned to explain the failure.
In the order, Justice Khan observed that the case raised serious concerns about the security situation in the federal capital, where a vehicle with a fake number plate could move freely despite extensive surveillance systems, CCTV cameras, and multiple checkpoints. The judge warned of taking strict action if police failed to make headway in the investigation.
During the proceedings, the petitioner’s counsel, Advocate Raja Rizwan Abbasi, informed the court that the abducted officer’s wife, Rozina Usman, had also gone missing. He said the family had been receiving threatening calls from unknown numbers, pressuring them to withdraw the petition. He told the court that Ms Rozina’s mobile phone had remained switched off since Saturday night.
Police informed the court that a kidnapping case had already been registered and efforts were underway to recover the missing officer. The SHO assured the court that the investigation team was close to tracing the abductors and recovering the victim.
According to police records, Muhammad Usman was abducted last week from his residence in Sector H-13, about three kilometres from the Shams Colony police station. The first information report (FIR) stated that four armed men travelling in a white Toyota car abducted him at gunpoint.
Initially, the incident was recorded in the police station’s daily diary on Oct 14, and a formal FIR under Section 365 of the Pakistan Penal Code was registered later on the complaint of his wife, who had travelled from Lahore to pursue the case. The abducted officer was posted in Rawalpindi and residing in Islamabad while working on projects of a sensitive nature.
Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2025
