Police probing cause of CSP trainee official’s death in fire

*Nabiha Chaudhry’s diary and phone records being examined as case is registered on mother’s complaint

The police on Thursday have registered a case of the mysterious death of Civil Services of Pakistan (CSP) trainee officer Nabiha Chaudhry, who had succumbed to burn injuries at the Audit and Accounts Hostel on Wednesday evening.

The Ghalib Market police registered the case on a complaint by Nabiha’s mother, who had arrived in the city from Karachi along with her other daughter on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) has sent the samples of the deceased’s diary, which was found in her hostel room, to the forensic laboratory where her hand writing would be verified. Investigators have also started extracting details of a man, identified as Omar, who was mentioned on the last pages of her diary and her phone records.

Police sources said that Nabiha was in a relationship with Omar and was apparently distressed that he was not responding to her phone calls. Omar reportedly belongs to Islamabad.

“This might have been the reason she chose to end her life but we are looking at the case from all angles,” a CIA official said.

Nabiha’s family had to go through immense mental torture while struggling to obtain her body from police custody. After identifying the body they were taken to the Audit and Accounts Academy where the police made them wait for two hours to have a look at the room where the incident had taken place.

Several colleagues of the deceased, on condition of anonymity, told Pakistan Today that Nabiha was a person of strong nerves and they could not imagine her giving up on life so easily.

“We are surprised that the police quickly termed it a case of suicide within a few hours of the incident. Nabiha was perfectly well during the day and none of us can recall seeing her in a depressive mood that day,” said a male colleague of the deceased.

Audit and Accounts Director General Shehzad Raza told Pakistan Today they would conduct an internal enquiry into the incident after receiving the investigation report from police.

Nabiha hailed from Karachi and was enrolled in 41 Common Training Program (CTP).