'Where did police dispose of the body?' Family still searching for Hridoy, shot on 5 August

It was 3:25 pm on 5 August 2024. Following the news that Sheikh Hasina had fled the country, jubilant crowds gathered in the area adjacent to Sharif General Hospital on Kashimpur Road in Konabari, Gazipur. Konabari Police Station is nearby. Thousands of people brought out victory processions along the road. Noon passed into the afternoon. The procession and celebrations were still on.

It was 5:22 pm. Several police members wearing riot police uniforms detained a young man. They surrounded the young man and took him onto the road in front of Sharif General Hospital. Several more police members came there and gathered around. One police member was holding a shotgun.

He went and stood behind the young man. Suddenly, one police member in the group slapped the young man. Then the police member standing behind him with the shotgun shot the young man. The sound of a gunshot, followed by a puff of smoke. The young man collapsed to the ground with his arms and legs outstretched. His body was still moving slightly. Leaving the bullet-hit young man there, the police members walked away.

The police member who had fired the shot looked back once at the bullet-hit young man before leaving. A few more police members then came there and carried the young man away by his hands and feet. A few minutes later, four police members were seen taking the young man past the front of the hospital. A trail of blood on the road was still clearly visible.

The young man's hands and feet were still moving slightly. Dragging him along, they took him past the hospital towards another group of police members. There were three people in that group—two in uniform and one in plain clothes. They took the bullet-hit young man towards an alley. The alley led straight to Konabari Police Station. At that time, the sound of gunfire was heard again. Leaving the bullet-hit young man at the entrance to the alley, the three men walked away. They later returned, dragged the young man along the ground, and disappeared into the alley with him.

This is not a scene from a work of fiction. It is a scene from a documentary. It depicts the final few tragic moments of a young man's life. The documentary was produced by the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), an international human rights organisation, after verifying various pieces of footage recorded on mobile phones and collected from social media, and conducting a forensic analysis of them. The Tech Global Institute provided assistance. The documentary was produced and directed by The Outsider Movie Company.

The name of the young victim was Md Hridoy (21). Hridoy, the only son of Lal Mia and Rehena Begum of Alamnagar village in Gopalpur upazila of Tangail, had two sisters. He lived in the Konabari area. He was a Class XII student at Hemnagar Degree College in Tangail. At the same time, he drove an autorickshaw. On 5 August 2024, after hearing the news that then prime minister Sheikh Hasina had fled, Hridoy left his home.

On the alley leading towards Konabari Police Station stands Abed Ali Market, lined with a row of shuttered shops. Hridoy was dragged through this very alley. After that, the researchers and makers of the documentary found no footage showing what happened to him. Months have passed, a year has gone by—yet the family has still found no trace of Hridoy.

For two years, the family has been searching desperately for him. The family members no longer even hold on to the hope of getting their loved one back. Speaking to Prothom Alo over the phone on Saturday, 1 August, Hridoy's sister Jesmin Akter said, "We never got my brother back. We searched for his body in the river once, but couldn't find it. After that, nothing happened."

Expressing her anguish, Jesmin said, "My brother's name isn't in the gazette. His name isn't on the list of martyrs either. We haven't received any government assistance. Jamaat-e-Islami has provided help at different times. A student from Dhaka came and gave my father an autorickshaw."

Now, the family says it would find at least some solace if they could recover Hridoy's remains and bury them. Jesmin said, "They took my brother somewhere. We never got my brother back."

Hridoy's father, Lal Mia, submitted an application to the Tangail Deputy Commissioner's office in 2024. In it, he sought the recovery of his son's remains and demanded state recognition. On 21 October 2024, Hridoy's sister, Jesmin, filed a complaint with the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) over Hridoy's disappearance after being shot. Jesmin said, "It would be enough if we could at least find my brother's bones. I want those who killed my brother to be hanged."

On 26 August 2024, Md Ibrahim, brother-in-law of Hridoy, filed a case with Konabari Police Station. The case alleged that police shot Hridoy and disposed of his body. Both Hridoy and Ibrahim drove autorickshaws in Konabari. On the afternoon of 5 August 2024, they had left home together.

Recalling the events, Ibrahim said that after the news spread that Sheikh Hasina had fled, a procession came out, and the police charged at it and fired tear gas. He then told Hridoy to return home. Later, he himself took shelter in a house near the police station. In the afternoon, a female tenant of that house came and said, "The police have shot a man. I wonder which mother's heart has been left empty."

After hearing this, Ibrahim called Hridoy's mobile phone. An unfamiliar person answered. He said that he had found the mobile phone lying on the road. Later, that person met Ibrahim and handed over Hridoy's mobile phone.

Ibrahim said that her wife Jesmin was at home at the time. He called Jesmin and told her to quickly look for her brother. Jesmin then called Hridoy's mobile phone. She, too, heard the voice of an unfamiliar person answering. Earlier that afternoon, Jesmin had had her last conversation with Hridoy. Hridoy had told his sister that his mobile phone balance had run out and that he would recharge it and call her at night. That conversation between the brother and sister never took place.

Amid the gunfire and tension, Ibrahim courageously set out to search for his brother-in-law, Hridoy. Near the place where Hridoy had been shot, he saw a blue lungi lying on the ground and picked it up. Ibrahim said it was Hridoy's lungi. The documentary shows the bullet-hit young man wearing a pair of red shorts. According to Ibrahim, Hridoy had been wearing the red shorts underneath the lungi. During the dragging, the lungi he was wearing may have come off and fallen onto the road. Ibrahim later picked it up from there.

That night, Ibrahim searched for Hridoy's body at Konabari Police Station and at the morgues of nearby hospitals. Later, he also went to the morgue of Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Suddenly, news came that a body stuffed inside a sack had been found in Tongi. Ibrahim rushed there as well. But the body was not Hridoy's. Ibrahim said, "Who knows where the police disposed of the body."

After the evening of 5 August, the police at Konabari Police Station fled. For the next few days, all that remained of the police station were its chairs, tables and building. So Ibrahim could neither go to the police station to look for Hridoy nor file a complaint at that time.

On 29 January 2025, Prothom Alo published a video report on Hridoy titled, "I want my son's body. Even if it is only his bones, I will bring him home." In the video, Hridoy's father, Lal Mia, who drives a van, said, "He was my only son. What more can I say? I just want to get his body. I will bury my son. Even if I get only his bones, that will be enough."

The day after the incident (6 August 2024), Hridoy was supposed to return to his home in Tangail. His sister Jesmin said that when Hridoy last left home for Konabari, he was in such a hurry that he did not eat the rice that had been served to him. Their mother, Rehena Begum, still lives with that regret.

Speaking to Prothom Alo over the phone, Jesmin said, "From the video footage that has been found, there is no way to hope that my brother is still alive. When the police attack began that afternoon, Hridoy had taken shelter in a shop. Later, the police dragged Hridoy away from in front of a garage there."

The narration of the documentary on Hridoy says that he was killed after being shot from behind with the barrel of a shotgun pressed against his body. On 15 January last year, the documentary was screened at an event at Bangla Academy in the capital. It was also shown by various media outlets. As a result, Hridoy's case once again came into public discussion.

On 24 July 2025, police launched an extensive search operation to recover Hridoy's body. Led by the investigation team of the ICT, the operation was carried out in the Turag River in the Kodda area of Gazipur City, with diver teams from Gazipur, Tongi and Dhaka taking part. Nothing was found.

The police member seen in the video footage shooting Hridoy is Md Akram Hossain. Following the confessional statement given by Constable Akram after his arrest, the operation to search for Hridoy's body was conducted in the Turag River.

On 13 October last year, the then Chief Prosecutor of the ICT, Mohammad Tajul Islam, told the tribunal that Hridoy's body had been dumped in the Kodda River after he had been shot dead. The tribunal had fixed 12 July as the date for submitting the investigation report. The report has not yet been submitted.

Jesmin said that in July this year, they were called to Dhaka. They were informed that those who had killed Hridoy had been arrested. However, those who had dragged Hridoy away by holding his hands and feet have still not been arrested. They were also told that the investigation report would be submitted to the tribunal soon. Since then, they have received no further update on the progress. So the family's wait continues.