The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has dispatched teams to arrest a man accused of defrauding a gold medalist student, after preliminary investigations identified him as Noman, officials said.
FIA Director Shahzad Bukhari said Noman had falsely presented himself as an accountant of the Supreme Court (SC). He said the suspect was neither an agent nor a study consultant.
Bukhari said the investigation has also revealed the involvement of a woman in the fraud. The names of both suspects have been placed on the Stop List to prevent them from leaving the country.
The agency has also obtained data related to Noman, which is being used to trace him, the director said.
Earlier on Saturday, police said a graduate of the International Islamic University Islamabad, identified as Laiba, allegedly died by suicide after learning that the US university admission documents supplied by an agent were fake.
Her body was found in Islamabad’s G-10 sector, within the jurisdiction of Ramna police station. Police said she was distressed after discovering the fraud.
Her family said she had completed her BS degree at the university with a gold medal and wanted to continue her studies abroad. They said an immigration consultant demanded Rs7 million to secure her admission to a US university.
Her father, who sold milk on a motorcycle and lived with the family in a rented flat, sold his plot and paid the agent Rs2.1 million in cash. The family said her mother’s jewellery was also deposited with a bank to arrange the remaining amount.
The family said Laiba discovered the documents were fake when she had them verified. In a final message to her maternal uncle, she wrote: “Do not tell my father about the fraud committed against me. He will die.”
Police have widened the scope of their investigation and are examining the case from several angles. They have not yet received the post-mortem report, and the cause of death will be determined once it arrives.
