Police have recovered the body of an aged man from his flat in the capital's Banani.72,
The victim, Mejbah Uddin Ahmed, is an expatriate in the UK and also a distant relative of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Relatives and police said they do no suspect foul play and believe the 72-year-old, who came to Bangladesh on November 3, died of natural causes.
Police however detained three people, including the caretaker and security guard of the building, for questioning.
Nurul Alam, assistant commissioner of Gulshan zone of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said Mejbah's body was found in a pool of blood.
“His relatives broke into the flat after failing to reach him over the phone in the morning. Seeing the body lying on the ground beside a bed, they informed the police,” he said.
Nurul said blood was found on the bed and also in the basin of the toilet, adding that the body was sent to Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy.
Bhuiyan Mahbub Hossain, officer-in-charge of Banani police station, said Mejbah was the uncle of the wife of Jatiya Party leader Sheikh Shahidul Islam.
Shahidul is a maternal cousin of the premier and was a minister in the Ershad cabinet, he said.
Mejbah's nephew Shahed Jamil also claimed the relation to be true.
“There was blood in my uncle's face. He had high blood pressure and we think the blood came out through his mouth and nose, leading to his death,” he said.
Mahbub said the actual cause of the death could not be confirmed without the autopsy report.
“The CID has collected clues from the flat,” he added.
The expat lived on the fourth-floor of the six-storey building while some of his relatives live next door. His wife is a Sri Lankan national and lives with the couple's two daughters in England.
According to the neighbours, Mejbah was a bank official in the UK and teamped up with some friends to launch Friends for Bangladesh, an NGO, after his retirement.
The NGO operates a school in Kurigram, and visiting the school was why he came to Bangladesh early this month.
Mejbah went to Kurigram on Wednesday and returned the following night.
