Local Awami League Leader Found Dead in Kasba Ditch

Police have recovered the body of a 60-year-old local Awami League politician from a roadside ditch near his residence in Brahmanbaria’s Kasba Upazila, two days after he went missing under suspicious circumstances. Officers retrieved the remains of Nayeb Ali on Friday afternoon from Dhajnagar, a border village situated in the upazila’s Gopinathpur Union.

The deceased, son of the late Abdur Rahim of Dhajnagar village, was a well-known local political organiser and had previously served as the general secretary of the Ward No. 8 unit of the Awami League in Gopinathpur Union.

According to family members, Ali left his house around half past nine on Wednesday evening after dinner to inspect a banana plantation adjacent to his homestead, a regular part of his nightly routine. Alarm bells rang when he failed to return home that night. Anxious relatives launched a search across surrounding neighbourhoods, orchards, and fields, but found no trace of him in the initial hours following his disappearance.

Suspicions deepened when searchers discovered personal belongings belonging to Ali strewn haphazardly near the edge of the banana orchard. The scattered items prompted relatives to expand their search to adjacent water bodies. At around eleven o’clock on Friday morning, family members scouring a nearby roadside ditch discovered Ali’s submerged body. Distraught relatives who recovered the remains reported visible external trauma, pointing out severe marks of physical assault and deep contusions across his back and torso.

The victim’s younger brother, Monir Hossain, a retired army soldier, alleged that his brother was the victim of a premeditated murder. Hossain stated that Ali had recently spearheaded a grassroots drive in the village to dismantle local narcotics rings and evict drug peddlers operating near the border corridor. The family suspects that criminal syndicates engaged in the illicit drug trade, potentially aided by local political adversaries, targeted Ali in retaliation for his anti-narcotics stance. The bereaved family has appealed to the district police administration to identify the perpetrators swiftly and bring them to justice.

Ali Mohammad Rashed, Officer-in-Charge of Kasba Police Station, confirmed that a police team was dispatched to the scene immediately upon receiving information from villagers. Law enforcement personnel secured the area, completed preliminary inquest procedures, and documented bruising and physical injury marks on the remains. The body was subsequently dispatched to the Brahmanbaria District Sadar Hospital mortuary for a post-mortem examination to establish the exact cause and timing of death as formal investigations get underway.