Father seeks answers over son's death

Although a “murder case” has been filed with police over the recovery of former Bangladesh Air Force officer Tahsif Souri’s floating body from the Turag River, his father KM Enayetul Karim did not explicitly allege murder in his original written complaint.

In the application submitted late on Friday night to Uttarkhan police, he urged authorities to “ascertain the cause of his son’s death and take necessary action”.

Beyond recounting the sequence of events�"the son’s disappearance, the retrieval of the body, the postmortem exam, and the subsequent burial�"the petition made no mention of specific suspicions or conjectures.

Police subsequently treated the plea as a first information report (FIR), registering the case under sections 302, 201, and 34 of the Penal Code.

Section 302 pertains to murder committed with premeditation by multiple individuals, Section 201 relates to causing the disappearance of evidence, and Section 34 covers acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention.

With no specific allegations levelled against anyone in the complaint, unidentified individuals were named as the suspects.

Speaking to journalists on Saturday outside the “Karabi” building in the RAJUK Apartment Project in Uttara’s Sector 18, Enayetul himself confirmed the nature of the application.

He said, “I submitted an application addressed to Uttarkhan Police Station.

“I asked them to uncover the cause of my son’s death. I appealed for a fair and proper investigation so that justice may be served.”

Describing his son as someone who “enjoyed good relations with everyone and would always rush to help others in trouble”, he added: “We cannot accept such a tragic incident happening to a boy like him. We hope the actual truth comes to light.

“My expectation as a citizen is that the state, through its various agencies, investigates the matter, brings those responsible to justice, and ensures that such untoward incidents do not recur in the future.”

Asked about Ahmed Shahriar Reza Dwip, he noted that the young man was a frequent visitor to their residence.

“During the PBI interrogation, he admitted that they had gone to Tongi. But Dwip had told me that he had dropped him back at this compound [Tahsif’s residential area], which raises serious questions.

“I do not know who is involved or what has been done; I cannot make sense of it.”

The floating remains of Tahsif, who made the news as the person who allegedly shared a video of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s departure from Bangladesh, was recovered by the River Police from Rajabari Ghat of the Turag River on Wednesday afternoon.

He went downstairs from his house on Tuesday evening “after being called away by Dwip” and left the house with his motorcycle.

Dwip had said on Thursday that he had dinner with Tahsif at a restaurant before they separated in the Uttara House Building area.

That night, the PBI took Dwip into custody for questioning from his house on Babar Road in Mohammadpur.
Based on the information he provided, Tahsif’s motorcycle was recovered from the Mazar slum area of Tongi on Friday morning.

Dwip also confessed he went with Tahsif at midnight to the area, which is known as a drug hotspot. PBI officials took Dwip to the area on Friday.

Amid deliberations over what course to take over his detention in the absence of a formal case for three days, the PBI handed Dwip over to the River Police on Friday night.

Following the application by Tahsif’s father, a murder case was officially registered at Uttarkhan Police Station later that night.

Despite the complaint lacking specific allegations against any named individual, Dwip�"who came under scrutiny after emerging as the last person with Tahsif until midnight on the day of the disappearance�"has been shown formally arrested in the case.

The River Police, the unit overseeing the investigation, said they would produce him before the court seeking a seven-day remand for interrogation. �"bdnews24