ISLAMABAD/LAHORE - The mystery surrounding the death of a NAB officer, who had been a member of a team investigating Rental Power Projects (RPPs) scam, has deepened further after his relatives rejected the post-mortem report supporting police claims of its being a case of suicide.
The body of Investigation Officer Kamran Faisal, who was buried in his hometown on Saturday, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his Federal Lodges residence in Islamabad on Friday, just days after the Supreme Court ordered arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and 15 others in connection with RPPs corruption case.
A NAB official told the Supreme Court last week that NAB Assistant Director Kamran Faisal and another of his colleagues had been suspended for recommending to NAB Rawalpindi Director General Col (r) Subeh Sadiq to submit references against the accused in the two RPP cases to the bureau’s head office.
It was also revealed on Saturday that during the investigations Kamran had written a letter to his superiors to remove him from the mega corruption case saying that he did not have enough experience, and his friends and family said the unfortunate official was under immense pressure after the Supreme Court ordered for arresting all the 16 RPPs case accused, including the PM.
The police have taken Kamran Faisal’s computer into their custody but his laptop is missing. Moreover, it has so far failed to get in touch with Sajid Ali, a close associate of the slain officer. Sources said that no FIR has been registered and no one has yet contacted the police to get the case registered. Only a report has been filed regarding the death of Kamran Faisal in Secretariat police station.
Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Aamir Ali has appointed Secretariat AC Noman Yousuf the inquiry officer who would record statements of Kamran’s friends, hostel staff and NAB officers. It was learnt that a police team had been dispatched to Kamran’s native town to record the statements of his family, relatives and friends.
Amid all the controversies and uncertainty regarding his death, the deceased NAB officer was laid to rest in his family graveyard in Mian Channu. Shrill heartrending wails pierced the cold morning air when the bereaved family members, relatives and friends received the body of the deceased officer. The funeral prayers attended by large number of people were offered in Municipal ground on Saturday afternoon. Abdul Hamid, the father of Kamran Faisal, reiterated on Saturday that his son did not commit suicide but was murdered. Talking to the media he appealed for justice and demanded a judicial inquiry into the murder of his son, though he did not blame anyone. He rejected the post-mortem report, saying that his son’s body did bore torture marks.
Earlier, a Poly Clinic Hospital spokesman Dr Sharif Astoori said that the initial post-mortem report indicated that Kamran committed suicide and claimed that no signs of torture were found on his body. The report added that there was only one mark on Faisal’s neck and it appeared that he had committed suicide.
The preliminary report had been submitted with the Islamabad Secretariat Police. The sources said that a three-member team of doctors inspected the body and the contents found from his body were sent to Lahore for chemical analysis whose forensic report is likely to be obtained in a week. The people engaged in the investigation of the case said that the father of the deceased was reluctant to conducting post-mortem, saying that he had left the matter to Allah.
But some of Faisal’s relatives, including his father, insisted that Kamran Faisal’s body bore marks of torture. His uncle Muhammad Iqbal said that he witnessed the torture marks on the deceased’s arms, back and wrist while giving him the ghusl, a full body ablution ritual performed before the burial. He said these marks reinforced the claim that Kamran did not commit suicide but was murdered. Muhammad Iqbal disclosed that Kamran was frequently receiving threatening calls from unknown persons.
The colleagues for Kamran, who demanded a fair inquiry, also said that the officer was under severe pressure for last some days. “Kamran would do anything but commit suicide. That’s something we know for sure. He was killed. And there was no doubt about it,” said one of his friends. Kamran’s first cousin and close friend Tayyab and other relatives termed it a murder, claiming that he could never commit suicide and demanded transparent investigation into the case. They requested the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo moto notice of the mysterious killing.
The death of Kamran Faisal has become a puzzle for the investigators and even after the passage of 26 hours, no FIR has been registered. Sources claimed that a sub-inspector of NAB gave information regarding mysterious demise of Kamran to police and his room was also opened before the arrival of police team. A police source said that NAB officials broke opened the room of the officer before arrival of police which was an illegal act on their part. He however said that the police did not find any letter from the room. IG police Bani Ameen reportedly had also inspected the room, bathroom and other places of his residence.
According to a report of private TV channel, Kamran Faisal had requested NAB Rawalpindi Director General to put him off the RPPs case. Citing a copy of the letter (dated November 13, 2012), the TV channel said that Kamran had argued that being a junior officer he did not qualify to take up a case as big as RPPs scam. The letter also revealed that Kamran had brought the NAB Headquarters DG Operations in the loop by conveying his reservations to him in black and white.
“I have never come to grips with (such) a mega corruption case (as) this one during my whole service in the bureau. A senior officer will be better suited to carry out an inquiry (as) sensitive as this (is),” he wrote in the letter. In the letter, Kamran also reasoned that with just a basic one-month course under his belt he was not capable of taking care of an investigation which demanded relevant experience. “In my six-year tenure, I spent four and a half years in the bureau’s IT department and monitoring cell. I have only dealt with a few illegal assets’ cases. Thus I must be removed from the RPPs case and moved to some routine cases.”