What began as a routine emergency response to retrieve a single body from the Atharobaki River turned into a double homicide investigation on Monday afternoon, after police uncovered a second corpse at the exact same location in Khulna’s Rupsha Upazila.
Officers dispatched to the Singhir Char area in Moshabbarpur village, situated within the Aichgati Union, arrived around 12:30 PM following reports from local residents who had spotted a body floating near the muddy bank. As the recovery operation got underway, officers discovered a second deceased male lying nearby in the riverbed silt. Both bodies, which had begun to decompose and emit a strong foul odour, were retrieved from the mud at approximately 1:30 PM, drawing large crowds of curious onlookers along both banks of the river.
The deceased have been identified as 35-year-old Mehdi Hasan Sohag, a resident of Rajapur village in Rupsha Upazila, and 30-year-old Rezaul Karim from the Singhir Char area. According to local sources, Sohag worked as a boatman at the local Jailkhana Ghat ferry crossing. Initial police intelligence reports, however, suggest that he was also affiliated with an underground criminal group known locally as the ‘B Company’.
Severe cranial injuries were observed on both victims. Sub-Inspector Nur Alam of Rupsha Police Station confirmed that both bodies bore visible, bloody trauma wounds to the head. Medical examiners and forensic officers are currently working to determine the precise nature of the weapons used and the exact cause of death.
Rupsha Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md. Masum Khan confirmed the double recovery, stating that a comprehensive investigation is currently underway to ascertain how the victims died, how their bodies ended up in the river, and who was involved in the crime. The bodies have been transported to the Khulna Medical College Hospital morgue for formal post-mortem examinations.
The gruesome discovery follows a troubling surge in violent crime across the Khulna metropolitan area, where two other homicides were reported over the weekend. On Sunday evening, Syed Humayun Kabir, joint convener of the Khulna Metropolitan Tanti Dal, was brutally hacked to death by assailants inside his business establishment in the Raymahal area under Aranghata Police Station. Just twenty-four hours earlier, on Saturday night, a 35-year-old man named Shahidul lost his life after being attacked with meat cleavers in the Darogapara district under Labanchara Police Station. Authorities are evaluating potential security measures across the region as investigations into all three incidents continue.
