The body found on the Dhaka Elevated Expressway has been identified as that of Ismail Hossain, 50, a resident of Gazipur.
Ismail went missing while returning to Gazipur from his village in Jamalpur with Tk5 lakh from the sale of land for his daughter’s wedding.
Banani police OC Faridul Islam told Dhaka Tribune that police had identified the car used to dump Ismail’s body and expected to arrest those involved soon.
“This will help us determine who was involved in the incident. We hope it will be possible to arrest them soon,” he said.
Ismail’s relatives identified the body at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Saturday after police informed them. The body was later handed over to the family following an autopsy.
Ismail was the son of Jalal Uddin of Jamalpur Sadar upazila.
Relatives said Ismail’s only daughter, Sharmin, was set to get married. He had sold 11 decimals of land in the village for Tk10.5 lakh to arrange money for the wedding and was returning to Gazipur to finalize the wedding date.
However, he went missing on the way.
His son Hasan said Ismail had Tk5 lakh and two mobile phones with him when he left Jamalpur, but neither the money nor the phones was found.
“My father left Jamalpur for Gazipur at around 3:30am on Thursday. At around 11pm, he called me and said he would arrive in the morning,” Hasan said.
“He was returning to Gazipur to finalize discussions about my younger sister Sharmin’s wedding. He was supposed to set the wedding date after coming home.”
Hasan said his father had repaid a Tk2 lakh loan with part of the money from the land sale and used some of the remaining money to build a room at their village home.
“He was returning to Gazipur with the remaining Tk5 lakh in cash and some groceries. He also had an Android phone and a button phone with him. Neither was found,” he said.
Hasan said his father was supposed to get off at Jirani in Gazipur on Friday morning. He went there and called him several times, but Ismail’s phone was switched off.
Later, Banani police informed Jamalpur police about the matter. Hasan then went to DMCH and identified his father’s body.
Police recovered Ismail’s body from the Dhaka Elevated Expressway on Friday. His mouth had been taped shut, and he was wearing a blue shirt and lungi similar to those worn by auto-rickshaw drivers.
Banani police SI Nazrul Islam Talukdar said Ismail’s identity was confirmed by matching his fingerprints with the National Identity Card database.
Quoting relatives, he said Ismail had worked as a security guard at Delta Spinning Mill but left the job about nine months ago due to illness.
He lived in Kashimpur, Gazipur, with his wife, two children and daughter-in-law. About four months ago, he had gone to his village home in Jamalpur, where his mother and elder sister live.
Police suspect Ismail was strangled to death before his body was brought to the expressway and dumped there.
“We suspect that he was strangled to death and his body was brought in a car and dumped,” SI Nazrul Islam said.
He said police were collecting CCTV footage as part of the investigation. A case has been filed by the deceased’s family.