LONDON: The legendary singer, Nazia Hassan, did not die of poison or any kind of foul play as a high profile investigation by Scotland Yard established that the allegations of poisoning lacked merit, the UK official record shows.
Zoheb Hasan, the singer’s brother, has sparked a new controversy by making allegations that Nazia Hassan’s husband and Karachi’s famous industrialist Mirza Ishtiaq Baig poisoned her and kept her as a hostage.
But the record kept by the UK authorities established through an official verdict after a joint investigation by the Scotland Yard detectives, a team of doctors and the North London’s Coroner Mr W Dolman that Nazia Hassan died from “natural causes” and there was no involvement of poison or any other substance.
Nazia Hassan died on August 13, 2000 but the authorities released her body five months later on January 9, 2001 after a forensic investigation led by Scotland Yard’s specialist team. The death certificate, after a thorough investigation into the causes of death, was issued on January 9, 2001 by the local Brent Council’s Registrar Mr S Palombo.
It was established by the investigation team that Nazia Hassan’s cause of death was Pulmonary thromboembolism; Deep vein thrombosis; and Carcinoma of left lung.
Zoheb Hassan and other family members of Nazia Hassan including father Bashir Hassan and mother Munazza Hassan had claimed that Nazia Hassan and Ishtiaq Baig had already divorced at the time of the singer’s death.
But the UK authorities wrote in the certificate that Nazia Hassan was a singer by occupation and that she was “wife of Ishtiaq Baig industrialist, of 57 Golders Green, London, NW11” at the time of her death and both shared the same address – that was then and now owned by Mr Ishtiaq Baig.
Zoheb Hassan told The News that Nazia’s body had poison because the chemotherapy itself is done through poisoning. “The doctors couldn’t differentiate between the poisons and as a result the report was inconclusive.”
However, the records of UK authorities contradict the claim of Zoheb Hassan and the original allegation.
The death certificate noted that Nazia Hassan died on August 13, 2000 at the age of 35 at the North London Hospice in Finchley – a care home dedicated for patients of special needs, the elderly and those who always need a carer. The inquest was held on December 11, 2000 after the Scotland Yard detectives completed their investigation into the allegations against Ishtiaq Baig and found no truth or substance to these allegations: deciding to take no action against the British national Ishtiaq Baig, never questioned or charged him.
Safdar Iqbal, a Solicitor of England & Wales, said that the death certificate following the relevant Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death (MCCD) issued by the Brent Council leaves nothing to imagination and speculation.
Farhana Rathore, a solicitor from Milton Keynes who deals in immigration and family matters, said it is possible that Nazia Hassan (late) may have made allegations in writing and or orally against her husband Ishtiaq Baig, as it happens in marriages or relationships, but the evidence shows that the police did not take these allegations as cogent due to lack of evidence and took no action against Ishtiaq Baig, treating the allegations as nothing more than one person’s word against another’s lacking evidence.
A spokesman for Scotland Yard told The News on Friday that the death certificate of Nazia Hassan suggests “natural causes” of death. The police spokesman said that “there would not have been any police investigation following the inquest”. The spokesman said that there is “no record of the police involvement in this case” after the inquest – which means the file was closed by the police once the natural causes of the death were established.
The News understands that the Scotland Yard carried out, after the singer’s death, a thorough investigation after Nazia Hassan’s family submitted a statement recorded by Nazia eight days before her death.
In the dramatic statement recorded before her lawyers and witnesses, the later singer alleged that she thought she was being subjected to slow poisoning.
The police investigation found that the allegations of poisoning and slavery were false. Nazia and Ishtiaq Baig’s marriage was solemnised at the Wandsworth Registrar Office in London Borough of Wandsworth on July 28, 1995.