KARACHI: A judicial magistrate (East) on Tuesday remanded anchorperson Iqrarul Hassan into the custody of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) for four days.

According to the agency, Hassan was arrested for allegedly disseminating anti-state, false and defamatory content on his official social media accounts.

Hassan was booked under sections 9, 10, 24 and 26-A of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).

Earlier, it was reported that Hassan was allegedly picked up by men in plainclothes, one of whom was wearing an identification tag of the NCCIA, from his residence in Lahore in the early hours of Monday, his family said.

Punjab minister Azma Bokhari clarified police had not arrested Hassan and the matter was being investigated.

In a video, Far­ah Iqrar said she and her husband were at their residence in DHA when men in plainclothes broke open the main gate, entered the pre­mises at around 3am and took Hassan away.

She alleged that the men manhandled her during the operation and confiscated two mobile phones belonging to her husband, a laptop and her own mo­­bile phone. She added that a masked woman among the raiding party was wearing an NCCIA identification tag.

Hassan had been critical of the government’s policies on social media.