A local court in Lahore on Thursday ordered the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to register a case against Pakistan skipper Babar Azam for allegedly harassing and blackmailing his former class fellow Hameeza Mukhtar.
According to reports, Additional district and session’s Judge Hamid Hussain also directed the FIA to book two other women in the case.
The order was issued after it emerged that the mobile phone number, which was being used to harass the complainant, belonged to the 26-year-old cricketer and two women identified as Maryam Ahmed and Salemi Bibi.
The investigators have been directed to register the case within the stipulated time without any delay.
In November 2020, Hameeza, who claimed to be Azam’s neighbour and schoolfellow, accused the Pakistan skipper of all cricket formats of blackmailing, adding that the cricketer had “tricked her into love” and “tortured” her when she demanded him to marry her.
She alleged that Azam engaged in illicit relations with her on the false promises of marriage and that she got pregnant out of wedlock but had to go for abortion on the cricketer’s insistence.
Hamiza further said that she had financially supported Babar when he was struggling with his career, adding that she spent millions of rupees on him.
Mukhatar also said that she had moved a total of five petitions in the court and would continue her struggle till she got justice.
In January, she also promised to surrender her mobile for further inquiry into the matter but didn’t appear in the court nor provided any digital evidence.
VIDEO: Did the woman who accused Babar Azam of harassment really drop charges?
Later, on January 18, Babar Azam was summoned to court, at which his elder brother Faisal Azam appeared and sought some time for verifying the matter. He is yet to make an appearance in court.
However, Azam has rejected the allegations.
In December 2020, Lahore police had declared Mukhtar’s accusations against Babar as false after the complainant remained unable to provide any concrete evidence to support her claims.
Meanwhile, Azam’s counsel, Barrister Harris Azmat, while requesting the court to reject the petitioner’s plea, had said that Azam was a national cricketer and hero, adding that Hameeza had started blackmailing the national cricket team captain in 2016 whereas the police had cleared him in an investigation.
Police also submitted an investigation report in the court, as per which the national cricketer was found innocent and the woman was leveling baseless allegations.
Barrister Azmat said that Azam’s case was being covered by Indian media and the woman may have targeted the national cricketer once again at the behest of someone.
