Kamran Faisal death case: Investigators await forensic report

Family rejects doctor’s claim of Faisal’s psychiatric condition.

ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE:

Over a week since National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officer Kamran Faisal’s death, police and bureau investigators were still waiting for the forensic report before completing the probe report.

The only thing the report would clarify is the possibility of Faisal being poisoned or consuming tranqualisers before his death. “The rest is already established by the post-mortem report, which stated that the officer committed suicide,” said a police officer.

“All elements essential to determine death by hanging or suicide were already found in the external post-mortem and would likely remain the same in the forensic report,” said a Poly Clinic Hospital doctor.

In its record submitted before the Supreme Court, the Poly Clinic Hospital authorities maintained that the NAB officer was a psychiatric patient. “He (Faisal) had been a regular visitor of the Poly Clinic’s psychiatry department since 1999,” the doctor said.

In the next hearing, the doctor said hospital officials would explain Faisal’s disease to the court and the chances of him committing suicide. The official further claimed that Faisal’s family was aware of his medical condition. “They (his family) were told by the hospital that Faisal’s case was sensitive and warned he could take an extreme step at any time in his life,” the doctor told The Express Tribune.



Faisal’s father Abdul Hameed Chaudhry, however, rejected the doctor’s claims. Terming them ‘a bunch of lies’, Chaudhry said that certain people were trying to divert attention from the real issue, which was that his son was murdered.

“If that is the case, NAB should first be asked how they recruited someone who was a psychiatric patient,” he said.

He further said that his son remained deployed in Balochistan and had joined NAB in 2006 before which he never lived in Islamabad. “How could he visit the Poly Clinic Hospital then? Did he use a chartered plane?”

A hospital official said the report was likely to arrive today after which a five-member medical board would give its final decision on the cause of Faisal’s death. Following their decision, the police would record statements from Faisal’s family who have so far denied talking to the police on the record before the forensic report.

Family’s concerns

The deployment of two constables of the local police close to Faisal’s grave in Mian Channu on Monday created concern among his family who were clueless about the development. The police are stationed in a make-shift tent pitched near the grave, Faisal’s brother-in-law Hamid Munir told The Express Tribune.

“They have created unnecessary panic. They are asking people questions, which is not their mandate. We have no clue why are they doing this,” said Munir.

DG NAB Punjab

Meanwhile, NAB Punjab Director General Khursheed Anwar Bhinder has managed to muster the confidence of his subordinate officers, who reposed their trust in him as their chief to deal with all issues, including the Kamran Faisal case.

More than 40 officers of NAB’s Punjab Chapter signed a resolution declaring confidence in Bhinder’s leadership. The NAB chief’s position was in danger after the NAB chairman expressed displeasure over his ‘inability’ to exercise control over officers who had been on strike following Faisal’s death, sources told The Epxress Tribune.

“The chairman was not pleased with NAB officers travelling by official vehicles to Islamabad and appearing before the Supreme Court and with Bhinder unable to stop them,” said a source in NAB.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2013.