Mutilated body of trader found in Old Dhaka home

Police have recovered the mutilated body of a trader from a house in a neighbourhood of Old Dhaka's Chawkbazar.

The victim's hands, legs and mouth were bound, and his genitals had been removed, according to Sub-Inspector Zillur Rahman of Chawkbazar Police Station.

"We recovered the body around 3:30am [on Wednesday]. His hands, legs and mouth were tied, and his genitals had been severed," he said.

The dead man has been identified as 52-year-old Nazrul Islam. His younger brother Tauhidul Islam Tapash said that Nazrul ran a workshop called 'Nazrul Engineering' in Lalbagh.

Nazrul lived with his wife, their two sons and one daughter on the fifth floor of a seven-storey building Lalbagh's Posta.

Tapash said his brother had told security guards at the building that he planned to go to Gazipur, where his business goods were being held by criminals.

The guards said they saw Nazrul leave the house, but they did not see him return. The question puzzling them is if he had indeed gone to Gazipur, how did his body end up in the house?

Workers at Nazrul's workshop confirmed that he had left on Monday night, but the workshop manager had no knowledge of his trip to Gazipur.

"Whoever the killers are, they came to the house, murdered my brother, locked the door from the outside and left," Tapash said.

He further revealed that his sister-in-law had taken the children to Narsingdi to visit Nazrul's sister on Nov 29, leaving Nazrul alone at home. Since Monday night, no one had been able to reach him by phone.

After searching for Nazrul's whereabouts, his college-going son Sumit came to Dhaka on Tuesday night. Tapash and Sumit then went to Lalbagh and Chawkbazar police stations to file a general diary (GD).

"Earlier, Sumit had gone to the house, unlocked the door, and taken Nazrul's National ID card. Unable to file the GD at the police station, Sumit returned to the house around 1:00-1:30am with a friend, in case he felt scared. I went to my home in Islambagh," Tapash said.

"Shortly after reaching the house, my nephew called to inform me that my brother's body was inside. When I rushed over, I found his body in one of the rooms, with his hands, legs, and mouth bound with a lungi, and his genitals mutilated. He had head injuries. The room was messy. We immediately contacted the police, who arrived and sent the body to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue."

Tapash also mentioned that there were two keys to the house -- one was with Sumit's father, and the other with them.

"A suitcase in the house contained Tk 40,000 belonging to my sister-in-law. It had been cut open and the money taken. Additionally, two mobile phones are missing. We suspect the killers took them," Tapash said.