Police and fire service personnel in Bandarban have retrieved the body of a local political leader from a hilly creek in the Kasai Para area under the Sadar Upazila.
The deceased has been identified as 38-year-old Sharif, a resident of Talukdar Para within the town and the son of local resident Johir. Sharif served as the joint convener of the Ward No. 9 unit of the Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal, the youth wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), in Bandarban Municipality.
The discovery was made on Sunday morning, 8 November, at approximately 10:30 am when local workers heading to the area spotted a blood-stained body floating in the remote stream. Alarmed by the sight, the eyewitnesses promptly alerted both the victim’s family and local law enforcement authorities. Emergency responders, comprising police personnel and members of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, dispatched a team to the rugged terrain to recover the corpse.
Following the recovery, officers transported the body to the Bandarban Sadar Hospital morgue for an official post-mortem examination to determine the precise cause and time of death. The presence of blood on the victim has raised concerns among local residents and party colleagues, though authorities remain cautious about jumping to immediate conclusions.
Confirming the operation, the Superintendent of Police for Bandarban District, Md. Wahabul Islam Khandakar, stated that law enforcement agencies have initiated a thorough investigation into the incident. He assured the public that the exact circumstances surrounding the tragedy would be clarified once the forensic reports and preliminary inquiries are concluded.
Bandarban, situated in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of south-eastern Bangladesh, features dense vegetation, riverine networks, and deep mountain streams known locally as jhiris. While these natural watercourses serve as crucial water sources for indigenous and local communities, their isolated nature occasionally makes crime detection and emergency response challenging. The mysterious death of a municipal-level opposition youth leader has generated palpable tension in the municipality, prompting calls from local political figures for a swift, impartial, and transparent investigation. Police patrols have been reinforced in sensitive pockets of the town while statements from witnesses and relatives are being recorded.
