Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members spoke to Sultana Jasmine's brother-in-law Aminul Haque and her son Saikat on Monday as part of its investigation into the death of the land office staff in custody.
They earlier quizzed 11 RAB members who were involved in the drive to arrest her on March 22 in connection with a case filed under the Digital Security Act (DSA).
“After Jasmine's arrest, from taking her to Naogaon Hospital till her death at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital on March 24, I and Jasmine's son Saikat were there with her. And that's what they (investigators) asked us about. They told us to describe everything that happened during this period,” Aminul Haque told reporters.
The investigation team took their statements in writing. Saikat, however, refused to talk to the reporters.
Sultana was picked up by RAB members from Muktirmor area of Naogaon city when she was going to her workplace for interrogation in connection with a fraud case. However, the elite force denied the allegation of torture.
Meanwhile, Prof Dr Kofil Uddin, chief of the Forensic Medicine Department at RMCH, on Monday said Sultana died from a brain haemorrhage due to mental stress.
"She died from brain haemorrhage and there is no sign that she died due to torture in RAB custody,” he said while talking to reporters.
“We found two injuries on her body which were very small. One of those was a small cut on the left side of the forehead which was 2.5cm in length. Therefore, it was less than one inch. Besides, there was a swollen wound on the inner side of the right elbow which was 2cm in length.”
Dr Kofil said that three forensic experts including him sat with the details of Sultana's autopsy reports and they examined them one by one. Only after that, they gave specific comments on the death.
The RMCH authorities handed over the report to the police on Sunday afternoon.
“Usually, doctors look for different veins during cannulating patients and in the process. If there is a difficulty, then there may be multiple attempts on a particular spot. This leads to such swelling in arms,” he added.
On March 27, the High Court sought the police report and the autopsy report. The court also sought details about RAB personnel who arrested and interrogated Sultana.
The next day the elite force formed a probe committee to investigate her death.
On March 30, some 11 members of RAB-5 were interrogated about Jasmine's death.
On the same day, Law Minister Anisul Huq told reporters that the Digital Security Act (DSA) was misused in the Naogaon incident.
"I want to say something very clearly. There was no DSA case against the lady (Sultana Jasmine) when she was picked up (by RAB). It was misfortunate and obviously tragic that when she died, even then there was no DSA case against her. The case was filed the next day. So, the DSA was misused here," he said.
Our Rajshahi Correspondent Abdullah Al Dulal contributed to the report.
