3 bodies recovered from Turag river in 2 days, identities revealed
Md Sumon, 17, a resident of Ranabhola in Dhaka's Turag area, had remained missing since leaving home on 22 June. Police from Ashulia police station recovered his partially decomposed body from the Turag River yesterday, Friday.
When visited Sumon's rented home in Ranabhola on Saturday afternoon, Sumon's father, Md Shah Alam, his mother, and his sister were sitting silently in one of the two rooms.
Grief had left the parents virtually speechless. Although they initially remained silent, they spoke after receiving words of comfort.
However, they declined to answer most questions. When asked whether Sumon had been missing since 22 June, they gave no response.
Relatives requested that no further questions be asked. They confirmed only that Sumon had gone missing and said they had collected his body on Friday after receiving the news.
They explained that they had deleted all photographs of Sumon from his mobile phone, torn up the photographs kept at home, and destroyed his mobile phone. They said they did not wish to preserve any memories that would deepen the family's grief after losing their son.
At one point, this correspondent showed them a Facebook account under the name "Sumon Ahmed Chowdhury".
Family members and several neighbours confirmed that it belonged to Sumon. They said he traded vegetables at the Kamarpura wholesale market.
A review of the Facebook account showed that six days ago it had uploaded a video of a procession marking the anniversary of the Awami League, whose activities are currently banned. The account had also uploaded videos of the party's activities on various occasions.
The Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Ashulia police station, Mohammad Torikul Islam, told Prothom Alo, "After receiving information from local residents, we recovered a body from a marsh beside the Turag River near Ashulia bazar on the night of 25 June. The deceased's family later identified the body as Sumon's. Yesterday, Saturday, the victim's elder brother filed an unnatural death case."
OC Mohammad Torikul Islam added, "The victim's family told us that Sumon left home on 22 June, saying he was going on a picnic. He later fell into the Turag River. He could not swim. His family searched for him in the river. We know of only one body recovered from the river. We have no information regarding the other claims currently circulating."
After the recovery of Sumon's body, several Facebook pages and accounts belonging to Awami League leaders and activists claimed that seven Awami League activists had gone missing following an attack by BNP activists and police on an Awami League anniversary procession in the Turag area.
The posts also claimed that the bodies of three or four activists had been recovered from the Turag River.
However, Bangladesh police described these claims as entirely baseless rumours.
In a press release issued on Saturday evening, police headquarters stated, "An attempt is being made to mislead the public by spreading false information on social media under the headline, ‘Bodies of Seven Awami League and Chhatra League activists Floating in the Turag River’. In reality, no such incident has been reported. Bangladesh police urges everyone not to be misled by this false propaganda."
Gazipur metropolitan police issued a similar statement in a separate press release. The statement, signed by Commissioner Israil Howlader said, "We urge everyone not to be misled by such misinformation circulating on social media. At the same time, police are actively identifying those responsible for spreading false information and will take legal action against them."
Speaking to officials from the fire service responsible for the Turag River areas under Turag, Rupnagar and Darus Salam police stations of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), as well as Ashulia police station under Dhaka District Police and two River police outposts, Prothom Alo learned that authorities recovered a total of three bodies, including that of Md Sumon, from the Turag River on 24 and 25 June.
The other two deceased were Arif Hasan Rakib of Ranabhola in Turag and Rony Molla of Monipur Mollapara in the capital.
Officials at Uttara fire service said that no bodies had been recovered from the Turag River within their jurisdiction—from Turag police station to Baunia and Birulia—since 22 June.
The Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Rupnagar police station, Md Noman Hossain, told Prothom Alo that no bodies had been recovered from the Turag River within his jurisdiction between 22 June and today, Saturday.
The Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Darus Salam police station, Md Dulal Hossain, told Prothom Alo, "The river police recovered the body of a man named Arif Hasan Rakib from the Turag River on Wednesday. The victim's uncle, Md Arshadul Islam, subsequently filed an unnatural death case."
Arif lived in Ranabhola under Turag police station. His uncle, Md Arshadul Islam, told Prothom Alo, "Arif left home at around 11:00 am on 22 June. He spoke to his mother on his mobile phone shortly before 4:00 pm that day. He remained missing after that. His body was recovered from the Turag River on Wednesday. We did not know that he was involved in politics with the Awami League. We only learned about his political involvement after his death, when several people showed us videos and photographs. We do not know how he died. We did not want to file a case, but we had to follow the legal procedure, so we filed one. We buried his body at our family home in Rangpur on Thursday. Arif was not a particularly strong swimmer."
Sub-Inspector (SI) Humayun Kabir, who heads the Aminbazar River police outpost, said that officers recovered Arif's body on the morning of 24 June.
"Later that day, at around midday, Rony Molla drowned while bathing with several others at Diabari ghat. The others tried to rescue him for about an hour before bringing him ashore, but he had already died. Savar Model police station has registered an unnatural death case in connection with Rony's death."
Kofil Uddin Molla, the father of 35-year-old Rony Molla from Monipur Mollapara in the capital, told Prothom Alo, "Rony worked at a hotel in Uttara's Diabari area. After receiving news of his death on 24 June, I went to the scene and learned that he had died while bathing. Staff at the hotel told me that Rony had left the hotel that morning." He added, "Rony had some mental health problems and would sometimes wander off whenever he felt like it. He was never involved in politics."
The Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Turag police station, Mostafizur Rahman, told Prothom Alo, "Since 22 June, authorities have recovered one body from the section of the Turag River that falls within Ashulia police station's jurisdiction. The procession also took place that day, several suspects were arrested, and all those incidents occurred within the jurisdiction of Ashulia police station."