The body of Sajjad Hossain, a vegetable vendor who was allegedly killed by police gunfire during the anti-discrimination student movement in Rangpur, has been exhumed 44 days after burial for an autopsy.
The body was exhumed under the supervision of a magistrate and in presence of the law enforcers and sent to the Rangpur Medical College Hospital morgue for a post-mortem at 12:30pm on Monday, Executive Magistrate ATM Arif confirmed.
At the time of the exhumation, Sajjad’s mother, Moyna Begum, his sister, Babli Begum, along with other relatives and hundreds of local residents, were present.
Earlier, the investigating officer in the case claimed that Sajjad's body was buried without a post-mortem after his death.
He then applied to Rangpur Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Raju Ahmed for permission to exhume the body for an autopsy. The court granted the request, leading to the exhumation.
Sajjad was killed by police gunfire on July 19 during the movement near the City Bazar area in Rangpur.
After the incident, Sajjad's family and local residents took the body to his home in the Purbo Shalban Shikshangan area of Rangpur city.
On August 20, Sajjad's wife, Jitu Begum, filed a case with the Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Raju Ahmed's court, naming former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and 61 others as defendants.
The judge directed the Kotwali police station to record the case as a First Investigation Report (FIR).
Kotwali police station Sub-Inspector (SI) Kader Uddin, the investigating officer in the case, said that Sajjad's body was buried without a post-mortem, it was necessary to exhume the body for the investigation.
Sajjad’s mother, Moyna Begum, claimed that after the case was filed, her son's wife, Jitu Begum, has been receiving threats to withdraw the case, causing the entire family to live in fear.
She also alleged that Jitu was threatened because she named some local miscreants in the case.
