Retired Brig Asad Munir, a former member of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), was found dead in Islamabad, police said on Friday.

Station house officer (SHO) of police station secretariat, Inspector Asjad, told Dawn that it was a case of suicide, adding that a report mentioning Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which deals with cases of suicide, will be compiled.

The SHO further said that the family of the deceased requested not to perform an autopsy of the body. Subsequently, the body was returned to the family upon the completion of legal formalities.

Superintendents of police (SP) City Islamabad Sayad Aziz, added that a first information report (FIR) could not be registered as the family did not want to have a post-mortem examination conducted on the body.

A senior doctor at Pims hospital told Dawn that while post-mortem examination was not performed, superficial marks on the body were consistent with cases of suicides.

The doctor said that there were no indication of any resistance, and ruled out the possibility that he may have been murdered.

Khalid Munir, elder brother of Brig Munir, tweeted that his brother has passed away and the funeral will be offered at 5pm at H-8 Grave Yard on Friday. He did not disclose the cause of death.

PPP leader Farhatullah Babar, PML-N's Barrister Javed Abbasi, Leader of the House in the Senate Shibli Faraz and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak attended the funeral prayers.

The deceased was residing in an apartment at the Diplomatic Enclave in Islamabad. He was a former intelligence operative with extensive experience of working in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the tribal areas.

At one point, he was the incharge of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) in Peshawar. Following his retirement from the military, he had also worked as a defence analyst.

A day earlier, NAB's executive board had approved the launch of two fresh inquiries and three references, one of which was against Munir.

PPP co-chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari offered his condolences to the deceased's family.

Senator Sherry Rehman also expressed her shock at Brig Munir's death.

With additional reporting by Naveed Siddiqui and Shakeel Qarar