Sexagenarian man's decomposed body found after 3-day in Cumilla

The decomposed body of a 65-year-old man, who went missing while returning home after buying medicine, was recovered from a waterbody in Debidwar upazila of Cumilla district on Thursday morning.

The body of Abdul Khaleque was recovered around 7AM from a waterbody beside the house of one Ali Azzam in South Khar village under Dhamti Union, police said.

Police reached the scene after receiving a report through the national emergency helpline 999 and recovered the body.

Khaleque was a resident of South Khar village.

According to police and local residents, several passers-by spotted what appeared to be a human body floating in the waterbody beside Ali Azzam’s residence on Thursday morning. They alerted the emergency services, prompting police to launch a recovery operation.

A police team led by Debidwar Police Station’s Inspector (Investigation) Imam Hasan and Sub-Inspector Sagar Barua recovered the body.

The victim’s son, Sohag Mia, identified the body as that of his father.

Sohag said his father went missing at around 7:30pm on Monday, October 19, while returning home after buying medicine from the pharmacy of a local practitioner, identified as Alam Doctor, at Nashu Market.

The family searched several places but failed to find him until his body was recovered from the pond on Thursday.

Debidwar Police Station Officer-in-Charge said a torchlight was found clenched in the victim’s hand when the body was recovered.

Police initially suspect that Khaleque may have suffered a heart attack and fallen into the pond, leading to his death. However, the officer said the exact cause of death would be determined after the autopsy report is available.

The body has been sent to Cumilla Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem examination as part of the investigation.