Ashraful Haque, 42, a raw materials trader from Nayapara village in Gopalpur Union of Badarganj upazila in Rangpur, travelled to Dhaka three days ago with his friend Jorej Mia.
Since Wednesday, his wife, Laki Begum, tried several times to reach her husband on his mobile phone. But each time, it was Jorej who answered. He kept telling Laki that Ashraful was busy.
Finally when Laki Begum went to Badarganj Police Station with her brother on Thursday afternoon, she learnt that police in Dhaka had recovered Ashraful’s dismembered body, cut into 26 pieces, from inside a blue plastic drum. The body was identified by matching his fingerprints.
Ashraful’s brother-in-law, Abdul Mazid, said, "On Tuesday, leaving his father at the hospital Ashraful went to Dhaka with his friend Jorej, who had recently returned from Malaysia. He last spoke to my sister, around 5:00 pm on Wednesday."
"Ashraful had told her, ‘They will release my father from the hospital, I’ve sent the money. Bring him home.’ After that, whenever my sister called Ashraful, his friend Jorej picked up and said Ashraful was busy or had gone out for collections," he added.
Abdul Mazid said, "When we called again on Thursday afternoon, it was once again Jorej who answered, but he still wouldn’t hand the phone to Ashraful. So my sister went to see Jorej’s wife. When she asked, in a phone call, why Ashraful was not taking the calls, Jorej claimed he had found Ashraful’s phone in a drain."
"After that, we came to the police station. There we heard that he had been murdered. His body has been recovered in Dhaka. We want justice for the killing," he continued.
Officer-in-charge (OC) at Badarganj Police Station, AKM Atikur Rahman, said, “The wife and relatives of the deceased Ashraful came to the station. We collected information from them and are assisting the OCs of Ramna and Shahbagh police stations with these details. A case is being filed in Dhaka. The victim’s family is heading there.”
The police are investigating the motive for the murder and the individuals involved.