Bangladeshi allegedly beaten dead at Indian border
A Bangladeshi man, Zahur Ali, 55, has allegedly been beaten dead at the Boro Keora border area of Chunarughat upazila in Habiganj.
Locals said that Zahur Ali was beaten to death by members of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and local Indian citizens.
The Indian police later recovered his body and took to the Khoyai district hospital in Tripura.
The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and the police sources said Zahur Ali, a resident of Paschim Dulna village in Chunarughat, Habiganj, would work as a security guard in Dhaka’s Basundhara Residential area.
He had taken a five-day leave and returned home on 5 January. On his way back from Dhaka, he had bought some lungis at a low price to sell in his village market. He left his home on Monday, 6 January, with these items, and was not seen again. On the morning of 7 January, local people from the Boro Keora area of Chunarughat noticed a body near the Gournagar area of the Indian border.
The body was later identified as a Bangladeshi citizen. When the image of the body was shared on social media by local Indians, many Bangladeshis identified it as Zahur Ali from Paschim Dulna village. However, there has been speculation regarding how he ended up in India.
Zahur Ali’s wife, Sufia Khatun, and a local member of the Gazipur union parishad, Abdul Malek, said they had received information from the border that the BSF and some local Indians had beaten Zahur Ali to death before dragging his body away. Local Indian citizens also confirmed this.
Chunarughat police station’s officer-in-charge (OC), Nur Alam, said, “After receiving the news, we went to the border area and saw the Indian Khoyai police recovering the body. They later took it to the morgue at the Khoyai Hospital in Tripura. Local people have accused the BSF and some Indians of beating Zahur Ali to death. The police are investigating the matter.”
Meanwhile, in a press release in the evening, the BGB-55 Battalion confirmed that after speaking to Zahur Ali’s family, they learned that he had been somewhat mentally unstable.
He worked as a security guard for a company in Dhaka and had returned home on 5 January. On 6 January, at some point, he crossed into India from the Guibil BOP under the Habiganj Battalion’s jurisdiction, near Main Pillar 1968/M.
Around 10:00am, on 7 January, local residents of Gournagar, about 3 kilometers inside India, found Zahur Ali’s body lying lifeless by the roadside. They notified the local Khoyai police station, who sent a patrol team to recover the body. The doctor on duty at the Khoyai District Hospital confirmed his death. Investigation is underway to determine the cause of death, and the body will be handed over to the Bangladeshi police once the investigation is complete.
Lieutenant Colonel Tanzilur Rahman, commander of the BGB-55 Battalion, said that the BSF had informed them about Zahur Ali’s death through the local police.
However, they had no prior knowledge of the incident, and the BSF is also conducting an investigation into the cause of Zahur Ali’s death.