Confusion arises over girder crash victim’s name, wives as they claim his body at morgue

A woman who claimed to be his daughter said that he was married to at least seven women

Several women were waiting outside the morgue at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital during the autopsy of "Rubel" and other victims of the girder drop mishap in Uttara.

They all claimed to be Rubel’s wives.

From what they said it appeared that Rubel had seven wives but they had no contact with each other, though he was identified as the husband of Rehana Begum and father of injured Rezaul Karim Hridoy after the tragedy on Monday.

There was confusion about his name as well since he was known by different names to his other families.

On Monday, Rubel was travelling with the newlywed Hridoy and Hridoy’s wife among others to Hridoy’s in-laws’ house when a girder came down to crush his car killing five on the spot on Jashimuddin Road.

Hridoy and his wife Riya Moni survived the crash but Riya’s mother Fahima, 40, Fahima’s sister Jharna, 28, and Jharna’s children Jannat, 6, and Zakaria, 2 -- all identified with a single name -- lost their lives.

Hridoy’s mother Rehana was also among the other women in the hospital on Tuesday.

Shahida Akter, another waiting outside the morgue, had arrived with her daughter Ratna, who studies at a university.

Rehana claimed she knew that her husband had another marriage but was not in touch with any of them, whereas Shahida said she had no idea that Rubel had multiple wives.

Ratna’s step-brother Shahidul Islam Roman said Rubel was with them in Manikganj until Monday noon. “He took off saying he had some work in Banani.”

Rubel’s ancestral home was in Meherpur. Roman said they had no idea about Hridoy getting married.

Salma Akter Putul, another woman claiming to be Rubel’s wife, said she had filed a case against him over multiple marriages. She last met him on Aug 11.

Putul claimed that Rubel had taken Tk 1.1 million from her to buy a piece of land.

Khandaker Beauty, who also claimed to be Rubel’s spouse, claimed that he had taken Tk 1.6 million from her to buy a car.

Nipa Akter said Rubel was her father and that her mother Nargis Begum got married somewhere else.

“Father had at least seven marriages. His first wife Tipu Akter died during childbirth. He has another wife in Tongi named Parveen Pushpa.”

Rubel’s brother Yahiya, who knew Nipa, said they will later sort out these claims.

In the meantime, Shahida and Rehana decided to initially take Rubel’s body to Manikganj, hold funeral prayers there and then bury him in Meherpur.

RUBEL’S REAL NAME

The case started at Uttara West Police Station over Monday’s incident stated his name to be Aiyub Ali Hossain Rubel.

Ratna, however, claimed that his real name was actually Noor Islam, which appears true according to Rubel’s National ID card and car documents.

Yahiya said the NID did belong to his brother. “Rubel is his nickname.”

On the confusion over his name and multiple wives, Uttara West Police chief Mohammad Mohsin said, “We’ve received preliminary information and are looking into it.”

SAMPLE COLLECTION

After 12pm on Tuesday, Dr Nashit Jamil of the hospital’s forensic division said autopsy procedures of the five bodies were complete.

He said the autopsy results matched police’s initial reports. “We took some samples from the bodies. A full autopsy report will be given after we get the results.”

The bodies were then handed over to relatives.

Fahima, Jharna and the two chidlren will be buried in Jamalpur.