Interim bail given to YouTuber Rajab Butt in gambling app marketing case

Lahore Sessions Court has confirmed the interim bail of prominent YouTuber Rajab Butt in illegal advertising of an online gambling app case, while it has given an order to prolong the interim bail of Nadeem Naniwala.

The court granted interim bail of Rajab Butt after hearing arguments in the hearings, details said. The case is on charges of improper marketing and advertising of a gambling app.

The court also took up for consideration the interim bail applications of the co-accused Nadeem Nani Wala and others during the hearing. Rajab Butt was given confirmation of his bail, while the court extended the interim bail of Nadeem Nani Wala till June 2.

The court asked the lawyers of Nadeem Nani Wala to finish their arguments in the next hearing.

More legal proceedings are expected in the coming weeks.

Cases of social media influencers

Official records show the two are named in many FIRs registered under various cybercrime statutes, including claims of operating or promoting gambling programs, exploitation of digital platforms and online harassment. The FIA had sent many letters before but their presence abroad meant no major progress could be made in the investigations.

Butt was booked by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) in September this year for allegedly marketing online gambling apps on social media.

The NCCIA had also booked Nadeem for allegedly advertising gambling applications on his social media, but he was also arrested in September for displaying a bogus registration number – ‘IK-804’ – on his automobile.

He could not satisfy the authorities on being questioned about displaying the bogus registration number IK-804, purported to be the prisoner number assigned to jailed PTI founder Imran Khan.

Also in March, Butt was booked under blasphemy and cybercrime laws for a “religious stir” after the introduction of his perfume brand that reportedly insulted Pakistan’s blasphemy law. Butt debuted his “295” perfume, named after the blasphemy statute in the Pakistan Penal Code.

Back in December, the YouTuber found himself in hot water after he was detained for illegally possessing a lion cub and guns at his home. He pled guilty in January of this year to possessing an unauthorized wild animal after being given the cub as a wedding present.

He escaped incarceration by telling a judge he would post videos on animal rights for a year.