ISLAMABAD, March 10: The capital police have quashed the murder case of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) investigator Kamran Faisal on the light of forensic, autopsy and medical board reports which declared it a suicide.

However, legal experts are of the view that instead of quashing the case altogether the police should have investigated under what circumstances the NAB assistant director had committed suicide.

“The case was registered on the charge of murder and according to the reports the victim was not killed, suggesting it was a suicide,” a senior police officer told Dawn. He added that keeping in view the reports, the case was disposed of.

According to the police rules, a case or FIR can only be quashed when the investigators confirm that the incident had never occurred at all.

But in the Kamran Faisal case, the police quashed the FIR despite the fact that it was clearly stated in the complaint that “It is requested to register an FIR in this case in order to determine the cause of death and to find out if this death was brought about by any undue pressure from any source.”

The case was registered on January 25 in response to the complaint lodged by Noman Aslam, the NAB additional director coordination.

The complainant stated: “I am directed to state that on account of widespread rumours and suspicions that Mr Faisal’s death could be due to murder this application is made in order to determine the truth in the interest of justice.”

Keeping in view the FIR’s text, it cannot be quashed but its charge - section PPC 302 - can be replaced with PPC 316 (punishment for Qatl Shibh-i-Amd, meaning ‘creating such circumstances which normally not result in the death of anyone but claimed a life’) to determine whether the death was brought about by any undue pressure from any source.

Advocate Chaudhry Ashraf Gujjar told Dawn that in this case by quashing the FIR the police had violated its previous practice.

He added: “In such a case surrounded by doubts and having evidences, the police approach the trial courts for its cancellation by submitting a challen along with the evidences and reports.”

However, the police probed the case, considered it a murder and set aside the other issue mentioned in the FIR, ie death by any undue pressure from any source, Mr Gujjar said, adding the police had cancelled the FIR in a casual attitude.

The cancellation of the case suggested that no incident had happened at all. “So no one was killed or died,” he said. But a man lost his life due to hanging, he added.

The police should investigate to establish the fact whether the death was due to any pressure, he said.

There are several evidences that the victim was facing pressure from other officers of NAB, Mr Gujjar said, adding the victim’s family had also said he had strong will power and could not have committed suicide.

The NAB officer was found dead in his official residence at Federal Lodges on January 18.

The deceased was investigating the Rs22 billion rental power project case in which Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf is also allegedly involved.