A 40-year-old sand trader was found dead in the Titas River in Brahmanbaria’s Bancharampur upazila six days after he went missing. His body was recovered from beneath a submerged wooden boat, where it had been tied with rope.
The deceased was identified as Mukbul Hossain, a resident of Pathamara village in Chalimabad union. He was the son of the late Mon Mia Bepari and had a son and a daughter. Mukbul was a partner in a dredger business involved in sand extraction from the Titas River.
Fire Service and Civil Defence divers recovered his body from the Mirpur area of the river at around 1.30pm on Sunday after an extensive underwater search. The body was later sent to the morgue at Brahmanbaria General Hospital for a post-mortem examination.
Missing from dredger
According to police, family members and local residents, Mukbul went missing from the dredger shortly after 10pm last Tuesday. His mobile phone was switched off after his disappearance, and repeated searches of the river and nearby areas failed to locate him.
On Thursday, his cousin Shafiqul Islam filed a general diary (GD) with Bancharampur Police Station.
The disappearance took another troubling turn when another partner in the dredger business, Rubel Mia, also went missing from the same area on the same day. The two incidents raised concern among local residents and Mukbul’s relatives.
Rubel was found alive at around 10pm on Saturday, approximately 100 to 150 feet west of the area where he and Mukbul had been working. He was reportedly unwell and was initially taken to Bancharampur Upazila Health Complex. He was later transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for further treatment, where he remains under police guard.
Body recovered after five-and-a-half-hour search
As Mukbul remained missing, the Fire Service and Civil Defence was asked to assist in the search. A diving team from the Narayanganj River Fire Station began an operation in the Titas River at around 8am on Sunday.
The team, led by station leader Mohammad Harunur Rashid, searched the riverbed for around five and a half hours. Divers Ashiq Mahmud and Delwar Hossain were also involved in the operation.
At around 1.30pm, the divers located Mukbul’s body beneath a wooden boat lying underwater. His body was tied with rope to an iron angle attached to the lower section of the boat.
The body was recovered and sent to Brahmanbaria General Hospital for a post-mortem examination.
Harunur Rashid said the divers had to conduct an extended search before locating the body beneath the submerged boat.
Family alleges murder
Mukbul’s elder brother, Babul Mia, said the family had been unable to contact him since around 10pm on Tuesday. They began searching for him immediately and later reported the disappearance to police.
Babul said Rubel had repeatedly told the family before his own disappearance that Mukbul had gone to Dhaka. According to him, Rubel disappeared after midnight on Thursday, shortly after the family had filed the GD, and returned to a house near the dredger on Saturday night.
Babul has accused Rubel of killing his brother. The allegation, however, has not been independently established, and police have yet to question Rubel about the incident because he is receiving treatment in hospital.
Police examining circumstances
Bancharampur Police Station officer-in-charge Mohammad Yachin said investigators believe Mukbul may initially have been tied to the wooden boat before the boat was submerged. He said the boat may have been weighed down with stones and pushed beneath the water.
The fact that Rubel was later found alive only 100 to 150 feet from the location where Mukbul’s body was recovered is also part of the investigation. Police have not yet been able to obtain Rubel’s account because of his medical condition.
Investigators are expected to question him once he is well enough to speak. Police will also consider the post-mortem findings and other evidence gathered from the scene in determining the circumstances surrounding Mukbul’s death and whether anyone should be held responsible.
For now, the recovery of the body has brought an end to the six-day search for Mukbul, but key questions surrounding his disappearance and death remain unanswered.
