The body of a Bangladeshi youth named Zakaria Ahmed, 25, was found hanging from a tree inside Indian territories along the Companiganj border in Sylhet. The Pynursla police of India recovered the body around 9:30 pm yesterday, Thursday.
The body will be handed over to Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) after completion of inquest and post-mortem in India.
Zakaria Ahmed is from the Lama village of Ronikhai union in Companiganj upazila of the district. Zakaria has a brother and a sister. He worked as a day labourer. He was the sole earning member of the family. He got married just three days before his death.
The body was discovered by the locals at around 11:00 am Thursday. Upon seeing the body hanging from a tree inside Indian territories, they informed the members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Indian Border Security Force (BSF). Zakaria’s uncle Gias Uddin has filed a general diary (GD) with the Companiganj police station over his death.
The Sylhet 48 Battalion of BGB said in a press release last night that it is initially suspected that Zakaria Ahmed suffered a mental breakdown due to family problems and might have committed suicide for that reason.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, BGB 48 Battalion captain Lieutenant Colonel Nazmul Haque said the BSF could not get involved as the matter falls under jurisdiction of police. The BGB and Bangladesh police could not go there as the body was found inside the Indian territories. The area falls under the Pynursla police station of India, which is far away from the spot. Besides, there were heavy rains in India. So it took a long time for the police to reach there.
Lieutenant Colonel Nazmul Haque said the Indian police will conduct an inquiry and post mortem before handing over the body to us through the BSF Friday morning.
The Lama village is adjacent to the Utmachhra tourist spot in Companiganj. Zakaria’s body was found hanging from a tree branch on a hill beside border pillar 1257 on the eastern side of Utmachhra, near the India border. The spot is about half a kilometre away from Zakaria’s home.
Deceased’s father Alauddin said Zakaria got married last Monday. No one from the family has any problem with that. They had dinner together on Wednesday night.
Alauddin got out of the home for work around 6:00 am Thursday. He received the news around 11:00 am through the locals.
Ronikhai union parishad member Ataur Rahman is a cousin of Zakaria. He said, “Zakaria didn’t have any dispute with anybody. We informed the local BGB battalion about the matter. But they didn’t help us.”
Companiganj police station officer-in-charge (OC) Uzayer Al Mahmud said, “We couldn’t retrieve the body as it was found inside Indian territories. We sought help from the BGB. The family of the deceased filed a GD at the behest of the BGB.”