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Syed Irfan Raza and Ikram Junaidi

Dawn

Publication Date : 21-01-2013

The Pakistan government yesterday formed a judicial commission to ascertain the cause of death of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) official Kamran Faisal, who was investigating the 22 billion rupees (US$225.17 million) rental power scam involving Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, according to the interior ministry.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters that a notification had been issued and the commission headed by Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal had been tasked to determine the cause and circumstances of death of NAB assistant director Faisal and submit its report within two weeks. Two senior experts would assist the commission, he added.

According to the notification, Justice Iqbal will get assistance of an official of Grade 20 or above.

The commission has been empowered to order a police investigation into any matter coming before it and to summon any person and any record for examination.

Kamran Faisal, 35, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his official residence in Federal Lodges on Friday.

His death came days after the Supreme Court had ordered the arrest of the PM Ashraf and 15 others in connection with the RPP scam.

It is learnt that Faisal was under severe “pressure” while investigating the RPP scam and he had requested the Supreme Court to let him dissociate himself from the case.

The FIR (first information report) of the case has not been registered so far and police yesterday recorded statements of four people, including colleagues of the deceased.

Abdul Hameed Chaudhry, father of Faisal, has said he wanted to get the FIR registered but police was reluctant to do so.

He said his son’s wrists had marks as if they had been tied with a rope. My son could not commit suicide because he was a Hafiz-i-Quran and “knew that Islam forbids suicide”, he said.

NAB spokesman Zafar Iqbal said yesterday that with the approval of NAB Chairman Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari, the Supreme Court had been requested to detach Faisal from the case in deference to his desire.

“It is possible that Kamran Faisal has been under pressure as he had requested both the honourable Supreme Court and NAB to be taken off the RPP case. In fact, NAB’s Rawalpindi director general had through a letter dated 7-01-2013 recommended that Kamran Faisal be taken off the RPP case because this was Faisal’s desire and the letter mentioned that he was having mental stress/psychological issues,” the spokesman said.

“This detachment was approved by the NAB chairman the same day. The Honourable Supreme Court, however, ordered that he be reinstated. Any pressure that he may have been under was not due to any of the speculative reason” in a newspaper report, he added.

The NAB spokesman said Faisal was assisting deputy director Asghar Khan and, at every stage of the report, it was signed by Asghar Khan and not by Faisal.

Meanwhile, Station House Officer of Secretariat Police Qaiser Niaz told Dawn that police had registered a case in its daily register because the family of the deceased had not filed any application and doctors had declared it a suicide. “An FIR will be registered if we find any clue that it was a murder,” he said.