Laiba Ijaz Case: Suspect Arrested After IIUI Gold Medallist’s Death in Fake Harvard Admission Scam

Islamabad Police have arrested the main suspect in the case of Laiba Ijaz, the 20-year-old International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) gold medallist who was found dead in the capital on Friday, October 9, days after her family allegedly lost millions of rupees to an agent who promised her admission — and a scholarship — to a top American university on the basis of forged documents. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken notice of the case and ordered the “immediate arrest” of the accused and “exemplary punishment” under the law.

The arrest, made from Islamabad’s H-13 sector, is the first major breakthrough in a case that has shaken the country and raised hard questions about the unregulated world of study-abroad consultants — and what happens when a family’s life savings are gambled on a promise that was never real.

What happened on Friday

According to police and family accounts reported by Geo News and the Express Tribune, Laiba left her home in G-10 Markaz at around 2pm on Friday without telling anyone where she was going. When she did not return, her relatives tracked her mobile phone’s location and reached a green belt near Itwar Bazaar in Sector G-10 — within the jurisdiction of Ramna police station — where they found her body hanging from a tree.

Police said the incident appeared to be a suicide, but added that they were investigating the case from multiple angles and awaiting the post-mortem report to establish the exact cause and circumstances of death. The family, however, has said the cause was no mystery to them: Laiba had discovered, days earlier, that the university admission documents she had been given were fake.

The fraud: millions lost, a plot sold, jewellery mortgaged

Laiba had completed her BS degree from IIUI with a gold medal and dreamed of studying abroad — the family says she hoped for Harvard University in the United States. To get her there, they turned to a man who presented himself, at different times, as an accounts officer at the Islamabad High Court, an employee of the superior judiciary, and an officer of a “sensitive institution,” according to the Tribune’s reporting.

What the family describes is a financial sacrifice that is almost impossible to read without flinching. Laiba’s father — who, Geo News reported, sells milk on a motorcycle and lives with his family in a rented flat — sold his plot and handed over Rs2.1 million in cash from the sale proceeds. Her mother’s jewellery was deposited with a bank to arrange the rest. The family told reporters the consultant had demanded around Rs7 million in total for the admission and scholarship.

The Federal Investigation Agency’s Anti-Human Trafficking Circle later registered a case naming two accused — Nauman and Fatima Sarwar — and put the collected amount even higher: Rs9.3 million, of which Rs2.9 million had moved through Laiba’s own bank account and the rest in cash, the FIR stated. The discrepancy between the family’s figure and the FIR figure is itself part of what investigators are now untangling.

When Laiba had the admission documents checked, she found they were fraudulent. In her final message to her maternal uncle, she wrote: “Do not tell my father about the fraud committed against me. He will die.”

PM Shehbaz takes notice

On Saturday, October 10, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took notice of the case in a meeting with the Islamabad inspector general of police and the chief commissioner. A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office described Laiba’s death as an “extremely regrettable incident” and directed that “the accused should be arrested forthwith and awarded exemplary punishment in accordance with the law.”

The same day, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry visited Laiba’s home to offer condolences to the family. Funeral prayers for the young student were also offered on Saturday, with neighbours and residents of the area describing her as an exceptionally talented and hardworking student.

FIA case and the arrest in H-13

The FIA took its own notice of the case — Director Shehzad Bukhari contacted the family directly — and the Anti-Human Trafficking Circle registered the formal case on October 10. Geo News reported that the main suspect, identified as Nauman, was arrested from Islamabad’s H-13 sector, where he had been living in hiding in a rented room.

Investigators say they found evidence on his mobile phone of alleged online fraud and the blackmailing of women — a detail that has widened the scope of the investigation beyond this single case. Sources told Geo that the suspect had previously worked in the Anti-Corruption Establishment in Quetta but was suspended, and had also worked for a company in Islamabad.

It is important to say plainly: the suspect is the accused in an ongoing investigation. His guilt will be decided by a court, not by this article. But the arrest is a significant step — and the evidence of wider fraud on his phone suggests there may be other families out there who were cheated and never came forward.

Who was Laiba Ijaz

Behind the case files and the FIR is a 20-year-old who did everything her country asks of its brightest students. She graduated from IIUI with a gold medal. Her teachers and neighbours remember a studious, quiet, determined young woman. Her dream was not exotic — it was the same dream thousands of Pakistani graduates carry: to study at a world-class university abroad and make the family’s sacrifice worth it.

That is why this case has landed the way it has. Laiba is not an abstraction. She is the daughter every Pakistani family hopes to raise — and the victim of the exact machinery that preys on families like hers.

A trap too many Pakistani families know

If you have ever sat in one of those glossy consultancy offices in Saddar or Blue Area — the ones with foreign university flags on the wall and a smiling counsellor who tells you your child’s future is “guaranteed” — you will recognise the pattern. A confident man. Official-sounding titles. Urgent deadlines. Cash payments with vague receipts. “Scholarship confirmed.” The fee keeps rising; the documents keep coming; the departure keeps getting postponed.

Here are the red flags every family should treat as deal-breakers:

• Cash demands with no proper receipts. Any legitimate consultant works through documented, traceable payments. If you are being asked for lakhs in cash, walk away.
• Guaranteed admission or scholarship. No real university admission — and certainly no Harvard scholarship — is ever “guaranteed” by an agent. That word is the fraud.
• Government titles used as trust badges. The accused in this case reportedly invoked the Islamabad High Court, the judiciary, even a “sensitive institution.” A real officer does not need to tell you he is one to sell you an admission.
• Pressure to act before “verifying.” Laiba’s case turned on one thing: she verified the documents. The tragedy is that the verification came after the money was gone. Verify before you pay — through the university’s own admissions office, not through the agent’s contacts.

And one more thing worth saying out loud: if you or someone you know has been scammed by an education or visa consultant, report it to the FIA. Silence is what keeps these operations running.

What happens next

The post-mortem report is still awaited, and police say they are pursuing the case from several angles — the fraud, the circumstances of the death, and now the evidence of wider online fraud found on the suspect’s phone. The FIA’s case against the two named accused is underway. The prime minister’s directive means the case will stay in the public eye, which is usually the only thing that keeps such investigations from going cold.

Whether “exemplary punishment” follows will be decided in court. What is already decided is that a family that sold everything for a daughter’s education has nothing left — and a country is asking itself how many other Laibas are one fake document away from the same ending.

Related: Punjab schools open today — education department debunks fake holiday notice. Official-looking claims on WhatsApp and social media are not always real; always verify through official channels before acting on them.

This is a developing story. TimelyUps will update this page as the post-mortem findings and court proceedings are confirmed. Key reporting: Geo News, The Express Tribune, Daily Pakistan and ARY News.

Latest Development: Main Suspect Killed in Firing on Police Team, Police Say

Muhammad Nauman, the main suspect who had been arrested in H-13 last week and was on physical remand in connection with the death of Laiba Ijaz — the IIUI gold medallist who was allegedly defrauded in a fake Harvard admission scam — was killed on the night of October 20 during an evidence-recovery transfer within the jurisdiction of Ramna Police Station, Islamabad, according to police. Police said the incident took place at around 11 PM PKT, while the team was taking Nauman to recover evidence linked to the case. According to police, four men riding two motorcycles opened indiscriminate fire on the police team, apparently in an attempt to free the suspect from custody.

According to the police account, Nauman was struck by the bullets allegedly fired by his own accomplices. He was shifted to a hospital, where he died, police said. The police team remained unhurt, police said, as the personnel were wearing bulletproof jackets at the time of the attack. Police said a search operation is underway to trace the attackers.

In a separate development, ARY News reported that Nauman and his accomplices were accused in a Mansehra case of defrauding a family of Rs8.5 million by promising government jobs for six of the family’s children and issuing fake appointment letters. According to ARY News, Nauman went into hiding and was declared a proclaimed offender.

Aaj News reported that police have uncovered nine additional complaints of job fraud and fake appointment letters against Nauman, indicating that the number of cases against him extends beyond the Laiba Ijaz case. The discovery adds to the list of fraud allegations already pending against him, according to Aaj News.

Geo News reported that Nauman first met Laiba in March 2023, when she applied for an internship at the insurance company where he worked. According to Geo News, he later hired Laiba, her sister and her mother to advertise a tuck shop, giving an account of how he first came into contact with Laiba and her family.

Independent verification of the police account of the firing incident is awaited, and the investigation into the case continues.