Police recovered the bodies of four people, including a newlywed couple, from three upazilas of Naogaon district on Sunday, 26 July, following separate incidents.
The deaths occurred in Badalgachhi, Atrai and Raninagar upazilas. The newlywed couple drowned in a canal in Badalgachhi around noon. In Atrai, a young man was found hanging inside his home in the morning, while in Raninagar, the body of a farmer was recovered from a wetland after he went missing in the water for around three and a half hours.
The newlywed couple were identified as Nur Islam, 22, and his wife, Sumaiya Akter, 18. Nur Islam was the son of Abul Kashem of Bedbaria village in Gangni upazila of Meherpur district. Sumaiya was the daughter of Shahin of Kartikahar village in Badalgachhi. The couple had been married for only six months.
According to local residents and police, Nur Islam had travelled with his wife to her parental home in Badalgachhi on Saturday afternoon. The following day, he went to a nearby canal to bathe with other people. Sumaiya was standing on the bank at the time.
At one point, Nur Islam reportedly slipped or became submerged in the water. Seeing her husband in difficulty, Sumaiya jumped into the canal in an attempt to rescue him. Both subsequently went missing.
Local residents launched a rescue effort and, after about half an hour, managed to recover the couple from the water in an unconscious condition. They were taken to Badalgachhi Upazila Health Complex, where doctors declared them dead.
Badalgachhi police station officer-in-charge Mohammad Ruhul Amin said inquest examinations had been carried out at the hospital. No visible injury marks were found on the bodies during the preliminary examination, he said. Further legal procedures are under way.
The second incident was reported in Atrai, where police recovered the body of 28-year-old Limon Hasan from his home. He was the son of Mohammad Ali of Bandarikhara Sardar Para village in the upazila.
Police and family members said Limon had gone to sleep in his room on Saturday night. When relatives received no response from him the following morning, they broke open the door and found him hanging from a ceiling fan.
Police later recovered the body and sent it to the morgue at Naogaon Sadar Hospital for post-mortem examination.
Atrai police station officer-in-charge Mahbub Alam said an unnatural death case had been filed and the circumstances surrounding the death were being investigated.
In a separate incident in Raninagar, 55-year-old farmer Abdul Mondal drowned after falling into a wetland while returning home by boat. He was the son of Ibrahim Mondal of Belbari village in the upazila’s Sadar area.
According to local sources, Abdul Mondal and his wife went to a village wetland by boat at around 9am on Sunday to cut grass for their cattle. After completing the work, they began their journey home. During the return trip, Abdul reportedly fell into the water and went missing.
Local residents initially joined the search for him. After being informed, members of the Fire Service and a diving team also arrived at the scene and took part in the rescue operation.
After approximately three and a half hours of searching, rescuers recovered Abdul’s body from the wetland at around 12.30pm. He was taken to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Raninagar police station officer-in-charge Mohammad Zakaria Mondal confirmed the incident and said an unnatural death case had been filed at the police station.
The four deaths in three separate areas on the same day have left families and local communities mourning. The deaths of the newlywed couple have caused particular grief, as they had been married for only six months and both died in the same tragic incident.
Police have begun the necessary legal procedures in the separate cases. The bodies in the drowning and hanging incidents were handled according to the relevant procedures, while investigations into the circumstances of the deaths are continuing.
