Amid growing confusion over her identity, as she used a pen name, the police have confirmed that the female journalist killed in the February 29 Bailey Road fire was Brishty Khatun.
It came as the samples of her DNA matched those collected from her parents – Sabuj Sheikh alias Shablul Alam and Beauty Khatun.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) disclosed the breakthrough on Sunday.
A student of the Philosophy Department of Eden College in the capital, Brishty was among the 46 people who died in the devastating fire in the seven-storey Green Cozy Centre. Most of the people went there for dinner with friends and relatives.
After her death, she was identified by her friends and former colleagues as Ovisruti Shastri.
However, her parents claimed from the beginning that she was Brishty.
As Sabuj and Beauty are Muslims while Ovisruti Shastri represents a Hindu name, confusion over the deceased’s identity kept deepening after that.
Her identity was confirmed 11 days after the DNA samples were collected.
A former reporter of TheReport.live, Brishty hailed from the Bongram village under ward No 7 of Betbaria union parishad at Khoksha Upazila of Kushtia.
Her birth registration, college certificate and NID identify her as Brishti Khatun.
CID’s Deputy Inspector General AKM Nahidul Islam said the DNA was detected on Saturday.
“The investigation officer of the case (filed over the fire) has been updated. He’ll take the next course of action,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ramna police station Officer-in-Charge Utpal Barua said the CID did not immediately report the development to them.
“If the DNAs match, her body will surely be handed over to her family,” he added.
When contacted, Brishty’s parents said they were waiting to receive her corpse and that they were not informed about the updates as of Sunday evening.
