Letter claiming death of Lt Col (retd) Habib Zahir is fake

• Registration number mentioned in letter was cross-checked on death certificate registry of Municipal Corporation Delhi.
• Zahir has been missing since April 2017 when he visited Nepal for an interview.

A letter claiming that missing Lieutenant Colonel (retd) Habib Zahir has died in the custody of National Investigation Agency (NIA) has turned out to be fake after the registration number mentioned on the letter was cross-checked.

Earlier, a letter has been circulating on social media that the retired Lieutenant Colonel has died in the custody of NIA. However, MCDOLIR-0219-004409247 mentioned in letter was cross-checked on death certificate registry of Municipal Corporation Delhi (North Zone).

The investigation reveals that the record does not exist. The letter mentions name of DCP Rajiv Ranjan of Special Cell in NIA. However, the officer is in fact part of Special Cell in Delhi Police (a separate setup) as reported on Economic Times.

The origins of this fake letter can be traced to Twitter user "FS801209" https://t.co/qQVEDHDjhC

— Zaki Khalid (@misterzedpk) November 20, 2019

Zahir disappeared in Kathmandu, Nepal in April 2017 where he had gone for an interview. In September, Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said that the government continues to make all-out efforts to locate Zahir and will not rest until he is home.