Family says it sold plot, jewellery to consultant who allegedly forged university documents
A young student who dreamed of studying at a US university was found hanging from a tree near a road in Islamabad on Friday, after her family allegedly lost around Rs7 million to a consultant who promised to secure her admission and scholarship, her relatives alleged.
The student had completed her bachelor’s degree from the International Islamic University Islamabad, earning a gold medal, and hoped to continue her studies abroad.
Her family said they sold a plot of land and jewellery to finance the dream, only to discover that the admission letter, scholarship letter and other documents provided by the consultant were all fake.
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According to an Islamabad police spokesperson, Sharif Ullah, the student’s body was found hanging from a tree near a road in the jurisdiction of the Ramna police station on Friday.
Police said the incident appeared to be a suicide at first, but the actual cause would be established after a post-mortem examination and further investigation.
Her body was shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), where the post-mortem examination was under way.
Speaking to Express News outside the hospital’s mortuary, the student’s maternal uncle, Rana Amjad, said she was an exceptionally capable student who had completed her BS degree with a gold medal and wanted to pursue further education.
He said her father had been supplying milk on a motorcycle in Islamabad for the past 30 years and lived with his family in a rented flat in the capital.
According to Amjad, her niece met a man while visiting a place for an interview. The man claimed he could secure her admission to a university in the United States. After discussing the offer with her father, the family decided to pursue the opportunity despite opposition from her brothers.
Her father sold a plot in a private housing society and paid Rs2.1 million to the consultant, Amjad said.
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The consultant later demanded more money, saying it needed to be deposited in the student’s bank account to generate a bank statement required for the application, he added.
Amjad said his brother-in-law (the victim’s father) then handed over his wife’s jewellery to the consultant. Instead of depositing the jewellery’s value into the student’s account, the man allegedly deposited it into his own account and gave her a fake bank receipt.
Amjad, a lawyer by profession, said the family approached him only after handing over the money and jewellery, when the consultant’s repeated delays in arranging his niece’s travel to the United States raised their suspicions.
He said he examined the documents provided by the consultant, including an admission letter purportedly issued by Harvard University, a scholarship letter and other university-related papers. He then had them checked through relatives living in the United States.
“We found out that all the documents were fake,” he said.
Amjad said he told his niece that the family had been defrauded, prompting her to break down in tears.
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“She told me not to tell her father because he would not be able to bear it,” he said, adding that she remained deeply distressed over what had happened.
The student’s younger brother said she had wanted to continue her education, but the alleged fraud had shattered the family’s hopes.
The police said the circumstances surrounding her death would become clearer after the post-mortem examination and investigation.
