ISLAMABAD: A magisterial inquiry report on the mysterious death of NAB Assistant Director Kamran Faisal suggested on Wednesday that police should look at murder as one of the causes of death in their investigation.

According to sources, police had not sent belongings of the victim, including cellphone and laptop, for forensic test even after a lapse of five days.

But police said they had received the items from NAB on Wednesday and were examining them.

Kamran Faisal, who was investigating the Rs22 billion RPP scam, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his official residence in Federal Lodges, Islamabad, on Jan 18. His death came three days after the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and 15 others in connection with the RPP scam.

Police accused the NAB high-ups of not cooperating with them and destroying evidence from the crime scene by intruding into Faisal’s room and keeping it in their possession for two hours before police reached there.

INQUIRY REPORT: A senior official of the local administration said the magisterial inquiry was carried out under Section 174 of CrPC.

“Police should investigate the incident thoroughly and consider all options and possibility, including murder,” the inquiry report said. The official said it clearly meant that police should not ignore the possibility of murder.

The inquiry was based on autopsy report, statements of police and NAB officials as well as staff of Federal Lodges-II, including its caretaker, receptionist, kitchen staff and watchmen. However, there were contradictions between the statements and the findings of police investigators.

The secretariat police admitted that the belongings of Faisal, including laptop and cellphone, handed over by NAB officials were at its Malkhana (store). Police said they were still examining the items.

Senior police officers claimed that there was nothing suspicious in the laptop and mobile phone, adding that these would be sent to the Federal Investigation Agency for forensic test.

Police have yet to carry out their own forensic examination to verify the cellphone messages and get evidence from them.

EVIDENCES DESTROYED: Police said NAB officials had first entered the victim’s room and remained there for two hours before police reached there. “The NAB officials should not have entered the room when they broke the door and saw Faisal hanging from the ceiling fan,” a police officer said.

He said the NAB officials, including Asghar Khan who is investigating the RPP scam, untied the cummerbund from Faisal’s neck and put his body on the bed. “During the first two hours all belongings of the victim were under custody of NAB officials who did not call police. They unintentionally destroyed the evidence by moving here and there,” he said.

Police said NAB high-ups were using delaying tactics and handed over the relevant documents and belongings of Faisal to police only after the Supreme Court ordered them on Wednesday to do so.

A special messenger of NAB brought three sealed envelopes to the Secretariat Police Station. The envelopes containing papers belonging to Kamran Faisal were delivered to police after a gap of six days. The delay raised questions over the authenticity of the documents.

CARETAKER: According to the caretaker of Federal Lodges, the room of Mr Faisal was being shared by another NAB official Sajid Shah, but he had not been living there for a week.

He said Investigation Officer Asghar Khan also had a room in Federal Lodges-I (close to the residence of Mr Faisal), but he had not gone there since Mr Faisal’s death.

The caretaker said on the day of his death (Jan 18), Mr Faisal had reached Federal Lodges quite late at 11pm from the Supreme Court, where he had gone to provide some record of the RPP case. “Mr Faisal was dropped at Federal Lodges in an official car,” he said.

A senior NAB official said Sajid Shah was on a week’s leave as he had to go to his hometown where one of his close relatives had died. He agreed that NAB officials should not have entered Faisal’s room before police reached there. “They should have first called police,” he said.

About Asghar Khan, the official said he had his own residence in Sector I-8, Islamabad, and he had been living there, and not in Federal Lodges, since the death of his colleague.