The family of University Grants Commission official Omar Siraj has faulted RAB for his death in its custody.
Assistant Director Siraj, arrested on charges of helping candidates cheat during medical college admission test, died in Rapid Action Battalion’s custody on Thursday.
A doctor, who conducted the post-mortem examination, suspected that Siraj’s heart, bigger in size than normal, caused complications leading to the death.
The 35-year old was remanded in the elite police unit’s custody for questioning along with two others on Sep 20, two days after he was arrested during a raid at the UGC’s Agargaon office.
RAB said he was taken to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) on Thursday afternoon after he had complained of chest pain and died there.
His family received the body after the post-mortem examination at Dhaka Medical College Hospital mortuary on Friday.
His wife Sabina Yasmin told reporters at the hospital: “We were worried when RAB took him into remand. They did not even let us see him.”
She claimed her husband complained of chest pain when he was taken to the court for another remand petition hearing on Sep 29.
“We appealed that he be treated by cancelling the remand petition. The court dismissed our petition and granted two days of remand,” Yasmin said.
His brother Ashraf Uddin claimed he was ‘murdered in a planned way’.
“My brother is a victim of conspiracy. He had no disease,” he said.
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station Sub-Inspector Wazed Ali made the inquest report where he said there was a long dark vertical mark on Siraj’s back and a swelling wound on his left ankle.
There were also marks of ‘old wounds’ on the right elbow and left wrist, the SI said.
Doctor Sohel Mahmud, who autopsied the corpse, preliminarily suspected these wounds were not the cause of death.
He told reporters that Siraj’s heart was bigger in size than normal that caused complications in breathing.
“But we are checking everything. The actual cause of the death will be known after we get the reports,” he said.
RAB, however, denied the allegation that Siraj died of torture.
Spokesperson Mufti Mahmud Khan said the doctors at NICVD mentioned cardiac failure as the reason behind the death.
He advised waiting for the post-mortem report to get the details.
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station OC Ganesh Gopal Biswas told bdnews24.com a case over unnatural death was filed.
The course of investigation would be fixed after getting the post-mortem report, he said.
Siraj, hailing from Jessore, was living with his family at Mirpur’s Pirerbagh.
He died in custody at a time when students are demonstrating for a fresh medical and dental college admission test, alleging the one held on Sep 18 was taken on leaked question papers. The UGC later suspended Siraj.
Apart from Siraj, RAB during its raid that day had arrested Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission (BJSC) storekeeper Rezaul Karim and a youth identified as Ishan Imtiaz Hridoy.
The elite police unit said Siraj was the kingpin of a ring that provided students with answers with the help of Bluetooth earphones.
It said the group helped the candidates during test for admission to MBBS, BDS courses and for recruitment to Bangladesh Krishi Bank, BJSC and other government organisations.
Source: Bd news24
