Although a full post-mortem report was yet to be filed till yesterday evening, sources said evidence suggested that Zubair might not have drowned at all
Five days have elapsed but the mystery behind the death of a 17-year old boy in the capital’s Uttara is nowhere near being solved.
Zubair Ahmed, known as a very good swimmer, allegedly drowned in a shallow pond inside a park in Uttara sector number four on Saturday evening.
Around 17 hours after he allegedly drowned, police recovered the dead body from the pond after Zubair’s swimming instructor and friend Kadir, an Algerian national living in Bangladesh without a passport, gave the information to Zubair’s family.
Kadir, who is now in three days’ police remand in connection with a case filed by the elder brother of the deceased, told during interrogation that Zubair drowned in front of him on Sunday evening while trying to fetch a football from the pond.
He also claimed that he had tried to rescue Zubair but failed. However, there is no explanation available as to why he took nearly an entire day to report the incident to Zubair’s family or police.
Although a full post-mortem report was yet to be filed till yesterday evening, sources said evidence suggested that Zubair might not have drowned at all.
Zubair’s family said they had tried to contact Kadir throughout the entire Saturday evening and Sunday morning, but he neither picked up nor returned their calls.
However, asked why they had not gone to his home, the family said they had been so busy looking for Zubair that they did not consider that option.
Kadir, Zubair’s friendship
Local residents told the Dhaka Tribune correspondents that Kadir was a well-known face in the area, especially among the teenagers of Uttara Sector 3, 4 and 5 for his football skills. He used to coach them with football and made a living by giving French and English lessons.
Zubair on the other hand had a name as a good footballer and swimmer in the area. He lived in a house on road number 3 of sector 5 with his parents Abdus Salam and Dilara Begum. He was the third of their three sons and one daughter.
Zubair used to be a student of the Kaplan Private School but later left school and was taking preparation for sitting in the O-level examinations privatively.
Shirajul Islam Khan, Zubair’s playmate, told the Dhaka Tribune that he had known Kadir and Zubair for a decade. “We used to play football often,” he said.
Asked about Kadir, he said: “We know Kadir as a football coach who taught children how to play the game. He was very close to the local teenagers. Kadir used to give them chocolates and gifts and often took them to various restaurants. Kadir was very fond of Zubair. We saw them always hanging around with each other.”
Shiraj also said: “There has always been confusion about whether Kadir was married or not. He told her that he had a wife and kids back in Algeria. When I first heard that Zubair had been missing, I called Kadir right away. But he did not pick up my phone.”
Zubair’s friend Aldin Ahmed said: “It is really hard to believe that Zubair drowned because he was a good swimmer. Often, we used go for swimming in the North Point Country Club at Uttara Sector 15. Kadir used to give Zubair swimming lessons as well.”
A mysterious new face
The playground at Sector 3 was their regular venue for playing football. But on that day, they went to the field at Sector 4 because their regular venue was being rennovated.
Amirul Azam, another playmate of Zubair, said: “We started playing around 4:30pm. Kadir was with us from the beginning. On that day, he brought with him another man. He was a Bangladeshi, not an Algerian. We did not know him. Zubair joined us about an hour later.”
He narrated: “Before Zubair came Kadir left us. Zubair asked me where ‘Kadir Uncle’ was and I said I did not know. Then he went towards the pond to look for Kadir. We finished playing around 6:30pm and left the playground. That is all we know from that day.”
According to the statement of the case filed by Zubair’s elder brother Jamil Ahmed, the stranger, who accompanied Kadir on that day, was named Islmail. Kadir and Ismail are the two accused in the case. The plaintiff, however, did not give any description of Ismail in the case statement.
Family says
Jamil told the Dhaka Tribune: “Ours is a very conservative Muslim family. Our family members are not used to staying out for long after sunset. As Zubair did not come home till 9pm [on Saturday], we started looking for him. He left his mobile phone at home that day. So he could not be reached right away.
“We first called Kadir because Zubair was very close to him. We kept on trying but he did not pick up our calls. After midnight, we got scared and went to the Uttara East Police Station to file a general diary but police told us that they would only take a missing diary after 24 hours.
“We, along with Zubair’s friends, kept trying to contact Kadir. Every time we called his number throughout the night, our calls were left waiting. Around 6am on Sunday, Kadir called me back and said he knew where Zubair was.
“Kadir later came and met me at the playground at Sector 3. He told me that Zubair had been playing football on a field on Saturday afternoon. The ball suddenly fell into the pond adjacent to the playground. Zubair drowned when he tried to fetch the ball. Kadir tried to save him but failed. After that Kadir went back home and fell asleep.
“Zubair and Kadir were good friends. We have known Kadir for the last four years. Kadir used to give expensive gifts to Zubair. Even Zubair would not tolerate any kind of negative word against Kadir,” Jamil said.
Asked about Kadir’s statement in police custody, Jamil said: “What he said is very hard to believe. How can someone go home and sleep after seeing a close friend drown?”
Other accounts
On Thursday, these correspondents visited the playground and found that it had three entrances. The park is divided into four sections: playground, pond, children’s corner and a community police barrack.
Md Saidul, a security guard of the park who was on duty on Saturday, told the Dhaka Tribune that on Saturday, two groups of teenagers had been playing football separately. “After the Maghrib prayers, we cleared the park. We did not see or hear anything unusual happening near the pond.”
Akkas Uddin, supervisor of Uttara Sector 4 community police, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Around 10:30am on Sunday, we were asked by the local police station to go to the pond. After reaching the spot, we saw police offers and fire service divers trying to recover Zubair’s body from the pond.”
Md Tareq, another security guard who was on duty on Sunday morning, said: “We were surprised to the body. It did not look like it was ever under water. The belly of a drowned body would be inflated and the body would be soft. But Zubair’s belly was absolutely normal and his body was hard.
“There were several fresh scratch marks on his belly, neck and hands. Besides, we saw blood on his lips. If he drowned on Saturday evening then it is impossible that his body would remain under water until Sunday afternoon. Usually, a drowned body comes to the surface in a couple of hours,” Tareq said.
Supervisor Akkas said every evening around a thousand people came to the park, which was located on three bighas of land.
Morgue Findings
After recovering the body, Police sent it to the Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy. Kazi Golam Mokhlesur Rahman, associate professor of the forensic department of DMCH, conducted the autopsy on Zubair’s dead body.
He refused to give any detail about their findings before preparing a report.
However, morgue sources said they had found mud-mixed water in the stomach and gastrointestinal tract. Besides, Zubair’s lungs were full of water. Specimen from his anus had been sent to a microbiology lab in order to find out whether he was sexually abused before death.
Contacted, Sohel Mamud, another associate professor of the forensic department, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Generally, if any dead body remains under water for over 12 hours, then it starts to decompose, the skin gets loose and the body becomes soft. Moreover, the body usually rises to the water surface within a couple of hours of death unless it is tied with something heavy.”
Police Investigation
Kazi Sahan Haque, inspector of Uttara East Police Station, told the Dhaka Tribune that Zubair’s had not been tied with anything when they recovered it.
Inspector Haque also said Kadir did not have any passport. “He told us that he had come to Bangladesh around 10 years ago to finish graduation under the Darul Ihsan University. But this information is not credible. We suspect that after entering the country somehow, Kadir threw away his passport and made a living by giving French and English lessons to local teenagers.
“He is around 46 years old but not married. We have shown him arrested in the case [filed by Zubair’s brother] and took him on three days’ remand ending on Thursday. We would produce him before court again on Friday,” Haque said.
“We are still interrogating Kadir because his statement is very confusing. It is not possible for someone to die in a place where a thousand people gather every day. Besides, if there was a football in the water, then why did Zubair not hold on to it for staying afloat? Please also note that we have not found any football at the spot,” the inspector said.
“We are now looking for the other suspect [Ismail] who is probably a Bangladeshi. We hope that we will be able to unearth the mystery soon after arrest him,” he said.
Protest on Friday
Zubair’s friends and playmates have opened a community page on Facebook titled “Justice for Zubair Ahmed.”
The cover picture says: “His family needs Justice! We need Justice!”
They have also announced a human chain programme and a silent procession at the La Bamba point in Uttara for today.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
