FIA starts probe into custodial death

Fact-finding committee records statements of officials

RAWALPINDI:

A three-member fact-finding committee of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday launched an investigation into the death of a suspect during the custody of the agency's anti-human trafficking cell.

The three-member committee, headed by FIA Additional Director General North Abu Bakar Khuda Bakhsh, recorded statements of the staff manning the cell where the suspect, Amir Hafeez, was found dead under mysterious circumstances on Tuesday.

A local court had handed over the suspect to the FIA on a four-day remand in an alleged defrauding case involving Rs1.8 million, however, he was found dead in the washroom of the FIA’s anti-human trafficking cell.

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After the death of the suspect, Anti-Human Trafficking Cell SHO Kashif Alvi, Duty Officer Muhammad Bilal, Head Constable Masood Bacha and Head Constable William Shehzad were suspended. The committee had been directed to collect all facts and submit a report within one week.

The accused was arrested on June 19 on charges of swindling three people promising to send them to Canada for employment.

A senior FIA official said that the committee reviewed the record of the case, his arrest and the investigation carried out so far. He said that the fact-finding committee also recorded statements of four other accused, who are currently in FIA custody.

The official said the post-mortem report of the suspect was yet to be received, the body was shown to the relatives before being sent to the hospital for autopsy. “There was no sign of torture on his body and except for the slits caused by the string around his neck," he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2021.