The wife of a University Grants Commission official who died while being investigated for his role in the leaking of entrance exam questions, yesterday alleged that her husband died in Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) custody.
RAB officials denied this, saying the official died while undergoing treatment at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) on Thursday evening.
Doctors and officials of the hospital declined to comment on the death.
Omar Siraj, 32, son of Ismail Khan, of Jessore, was arrested by RAB 4 on September 18. He was temporarily suspended by the UGC authorities the following day for alleged involvement in the leaking of medical college admissions exam question papers.
His death comes amid a furore over the September 18 tests whose results students want annulled. Protesting students are demanding that fresh medical and dental admissions tests be held.
Siraj, an assistant director of the UGC, was taken on two-day remand in RAB custody on September 30 and was scheduled to be produced in court yesterday.
RAB 4 Operations Officer ABM Mujahidul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: “On Thursday afternoon Siraj complained of chest pains and was rushed to the NICVD around 5:50pm. He died at the hospital around 7pm.”
“The body was sent to Dhaka Medial College for post-mortem examination,” he said adding that Siraj died while being treated at the hospital.
Siraj’s wife, Sabina Yasmin Shompa, alleges that her husband died in RAB custody.
At the hospital, it was found that officials and staff were unwilling to discuss the case. On-duty doctors at the Coronary Care Unit yesterday also declined to discuss the circumstances of Siraj’s death.
One on-duty doctor, asking not to be named, said that according to the case history, Siraj had been admitted to the CCU suffering from a heart attack and died while undergoing treatment under Prof Dr STM Abu Azam.
Dr Azam could not be reached by mobile phone despite several attempts to do so.
The technician who conducted Siraj’s electrocardiogram (ECG) test claimed it was normal. He declined to discuss whether Siraj had suffered a heart attack saying it was not his job to make a diagnosis.
Dr Sohel Mahmud, assistant professor of the forensics department, said after the autopsy, the deceased’s heart had been sent for tests to determine whether or not he had suffered a heart attack.
On September 18, RAB 4 arrested Omar Siraj and two others at the UGC office in the capital’s Agargaon area. The elite force said it recovered some medical admissions exam questions, 23 answer sheets, two questions from the 2014 assistant judge appointment exam, Tk2 lakh cash, an Exim Bank cheque for Tk4 lakh, stamp seals of different government offices, three mobile telephones and a notebook.
Apart from Siraj, RAB said it had arrested Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission (BJSC) storekeeper Rezaul Karim and a youth identified as Ishan Imtiaz Hridoy.
A case was filed against Siraj with the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police.
RAB officials handed Siraj over to the police, to whom he was remanded from September 21 to 22. The case was handed over to RAB on September 24.
