ISLAMABAD, Jan 24: The Supreme Court explained on Thursday that it was taking up the case of mysterious death of NAB’s Assistant Director Kamran Faisal because it wanted to ascertain the truth since the deceased was investigating the high-profile rental power projects (RPP) scam which also involves Prime Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf.

“The only concern the court has is to ascertain whether the unnatural death of Faisal has anything to do with the investigation into the RPP scandal or not,” observed Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja who heads a two-judge bench hearing the case.

The bench was assigned the task by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to look into the circumstances leading to the NAB investigator’s death.

Hamid Muneer, brother-in-law of the deceased, insisted before the bench that Faisal had not committed suicide, but was murdered and that his laptop was missing from Federal Lodges where he was staying.

The bench was surprised and asked why no FIR had been lodged when the officer was found dead in mysterious circumstances in his room on Jan 18.

“I am unable to see any reason why FIR has not been lodged,” Justice Khawaja said.

The court said there were lots of comments and speculations over the death and regardless of whether it was a murder or suicide all comments widely reported in the press were almost unanimous that the officer had been under intense pressure.

“Any pressure on the NAB officer in relation to the official work itself may constitute interference in investigations and obstruction in the cause of justice. It is also important to ascertain by this court if this was with intent to interfere the proceedings in the RPP case,” Justice Khawaja observed.

The court decided to issue notices to NAB Chairman Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari and other senior functionaries who might have knowledge of events starting from Jan 15 when the Supreme Court had ordered the arrest of the prime minister for the first time in the RPP case.

The NAB is required to submit the copy of the transcript of a video-conference it had held with regional officers after the death of Faisal.

The court ordered the chairman of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to submit complete data recording of calls the deceased had made with different NAB officials connected with the RPP case directly or indirectly.

The PTA will obtain the data from cellphone service providers.

When Hamid Muneer said there was a flurry of activities on the night between Jan 17 and 18, the court asked NAB to provide CCTV footage of happenings in the bureau office between Jan 15 and 18, along with the entry log book.

The court also sought CCTV footage and record of entry into and exit from Federal Lodges.

The medial superintendent of Poly Clinic Hospital is required to submit the entire record, including post-mortem report, of the deceased.

The court registrar will ensure that all records are submitted to the court by Saturday. The hearing was adjourned to Monday.