Sylhet Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate M Kazi Emdadul Islam on Wednesday ordered the exhumation of the body of Rayhan Ahmed, the young man who was allegedly tortured to death in Sylhet police custody, for re-autopsy.
The order came after the former investigative officer of the case, Md Abdul Baten, sub-inspector of Sylhet Kotwali Model police station, applied for it.
Confirming the matter, Md Khaleduzzaman, additional police super of Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), said, "An executive magistrate was appointed in this regard. We will unearth the body after consulting with him."
The order came in light of suspicions that the police reportedly influenced the post mortem report by not conducting the autopsy on a deputy magistrate’s watch, sources of Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) said, seeking anonymity.
Meanwhile, Sylhet Metropolitan Police handed over the case to PBI for better investigation on Tuesday, said Jwotirmoy Sarker, deputy commissioner of SMP.
Soon after taking over the case, officials of PBI visited the crime scene at Bandar Bazar police outpost at around 12 noon on Tuesday.
However, they did not reveal their findings to journalists present on the scene.
Meanwhile, SI Akbar Hossain Bhuiyan--who was removed and attached to Chittagong police lines-- had not joined his post in Chittagong Metropolitan Police til Wednesday.
Suspecting that Akbar might try to flee to India, the law enforcers of the border areas of the country were alerted to avert such a situation, said Md Farid Uddin, superintendent of police, Sylhet.
On Sunday, the 34-year-old Rayhan Ahmed died in police custody following torture, his family alleged. However, police denied the allegation and said Rayhan had been caught by locals while mugging and was lynched.
Police said they found the man wounded in the mob beating and took him to a hospital, where he died.
However, the victim's mother said Rayhan had called her from an unknown number at 4:23am and said that police had taken him to Bandarbazar police outpost and were demanding Tk10,000 for his release.
Rayhan's uncle rushed to free him with Tk5,000, but police refused to accept the money. He was told to come in the morning after arranging the full amount of Tk10,000.
Rayhan's uncle went to Bandarbazar police outpost at 9am and was told by police that Rayhan had fallen ill and had been taken to a hospital at 7am.
Rushing to the hospital, he came to know that Rayhan was already dead and that his body had been sent for post-mortem examination.
The uncle said, "Rayhan was killed in police torture, his body bore numerous wound marks."
On Tuesday, a writ was filed in the High Court (HC) seeking an independent and impartial probe into the death of a Sylhet youth who was allegedly tortured to death in police custody.
Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Syed Fazle Elahi filed the writ petition, seeking reasonable compensation for the victim's family. The court fixed Wednesday for the hearing on the plea.
