Rizwan asks Pakistan's cybercrime agency to return his phone and explain the inquiry

Mohammad Rizwan has written to Pakistan's cybercrime agency asking for the mobile phone it took from him a month ago, and for the allegations against him to be set out in writing

The Pakistan wicketkeeper has written to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency seeking the return of the phone he handed over on 31 August, and asking it to identify in writing "the specific incident" under investigation.

The letter, dated 28 September, also asks the agency to tell him when he is next required to present himself.

Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq have both been questioned by the agency. Neither has been charged, and no finding against either player has been announced.

A phone taken in a hotel lobby

The phone was taken in England the day after Pakistan's defeat to England at Lord's. Rizwan was called to the team hotel lobby at about 1am and asked to bring the device with him.

He was told it would be returned within three hours, according to the letter. He was later informed it would be handed back after a digital forensic examination.

His lawyer, Qazi Umair Ali, told the Lahore High Court that his client had been questioned in the lobby without being served a notice beforehand.

What the inquiry is about

The scope of the investigation has been described differently by the two sides. Rizwan's petition to the high court linked the call-up notice to allegations of online betting and gambling in Pakistan cricket.

In court, the government's law officer said the inquiry concerned "allegations of electronic fraud" under Section 14 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.

Reporting in Pakistan has tied the case to alleged leaks from the dressing room during the England series, and to a complaint lodged by the Pakistan Cricket Board. Investigators are also said to have examined both players' financial transactions.

What the court ordered

The Lahore High Court dismissed Rizwan's petition challenging the agency's jurisdiction on 17 September. Chief Justice Aalia Neelum wrote that "a call-up notice is a procedural mechanism for gathering information and does not, by itself, amount to an accusation of wrongdoing".

The same order directed the NCCIA not to subject him to "harassment or unnecessary inconvenience", told him to cooperate, and left him free to pursue the phone's return through legal channels.

In the letter Rizwan says he has cooperated throughout and has "not withheld the password" at any stage, and that officials examined the phone's contents in his presence both when it was seized and when he appeared before them on 10 September.

Off the field while it runs

Rizwan and Imam were among seven players released from Pakistan's Test squad after the Lord's match, and neither has played since.

Both were also left out of the President's Trophy Grade-I, which opens Pakistan's first-class season. Their departments did not file the fitness reports the board requires, though reporting in Pakistan attributes the absence to the inquiry rather than to fitness.

Rizwan's side, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, play Pakistan Television on Wednesday. Imam captains Oil & Gas Development Company Limited, who meet State Bank of Pakistan the same morning.

Not allowed to answer publicly

Rizwan twice sought the PCB's permission to speak publicly about the inquiry, as the terms of his central contract require, and was refused on both occasions, according to people familiar with the matter.

The letter is therefore the only account he has given in his own words since the phone was taken, and it is addressed to investigators rather than to the public.

Four weeks after he handed it over, the phone remains with the agency and the case against him has still not been put to him in writing.

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