Bodies of four shot dead in Gopalganj buried without postmortem or inquest

None of the four people shot dead during Wednesday’s daylong violence in Gopalganj received any inquest or postmortem examination before they were buried or cremated overnight.

The dead, Dipto Saha, 30, Ramzan Kazi, 17, Sohel Rana, 35, and Imon Talukder, were all either buried or cremated in Gopalganj on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, without any forensic procedures being conducted.

Among them, Dipto, a clothing trader from Udayan Road, was cremated at the town cremation ground on Wednesday night. Ramzan, an assistant to a tile mason and son of Kamrul Kazi of Harinahati village in Kotalipara, was buried after Isha prayers on the same night.

Mobile phone trader Sohel from Shanapara and crockery shop worker Imon from Bherar Bazar were both buried on Thursday morning at the municipal graveyard.

The family members of the dead declined to comment on whether an inquest or postmortem had been conducted.

The issue was raised on Thursday afternoon during a media briefing at the Gopalganj deputy commissioner’s conference room.

Asked about the absence of postmortems, Rezaul Karim Mallik, deputy inspector general of the Dhaka Range police, said: “The matter will be addressed through legal procedures.”

He also said any possible police negligence connected to the events in Gopalganj would be investigated.

Ramzan’s uncle Moniruzzaman told bdnews24.com on Wednesday night that the teenager had been walking through town on his way to work when he was shot.

Ramzan, though originally from Kotalipara, was born and raised in Gopalganj, his uncle said.

After his death, the body was handed over to the family from the hospital. His funeral prayers were held at the town graveyard mosque, where he was buried.

Dipto ran a garment shop in Gopalganj’s Chourangi area with his two brothers. Family members said he was shot while returning home from the shop during the day’s clashes.

Violence broke out on Wednesday around a rally organised by the National Citizen Party (NCP), as the municipal park and launch terminals descended into chaos.

At least 15 people were admitted to the hospital, three of them in critical condition and later transferred to Dhaka.