Missing Swechchhasebak League leader found dead in Pabna’s Ishwardy

Police have recovered the mutilated body of a local leader of the ruling Awami League’s volunteer wing in Pabna’s Ishwardy two days after he went missing.

Locals called the law enforcers after seeing the body of Asadul Islam Ershad, 35, a ward-unit Swechchhasebak League leader from Ramnathpur, in a canal in Muladuli union on Wednesday afternoon.

Neither police nor his family could confirm whether Asadul going missing in the beginning of election campaign and the recovery of his body a day after deadly polls violence were linked to politics.

Asadul worked at Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Project as an employee of a contractor firm, his uncle and Muladuli Union Awami League General Secretary Kamal Hossain told bdnews24.com.

“He went out after dinner on Monday saying he would go to Sheikhparha village. There had been no trace of him since then,” Kamal said.

There were several wounds on the body and an ear was cut off, according to Ishwardy Police Station OC Bahauddin Faruqi.

An eye of Asadul was also damaged and there was an electric wire coiled around his neck, the OC said.

“It seems he was hacked to death,” he added.

Asked whether they suspected any political link to the murder, Faruqi said they had not received any such indication from Asadul’s family yet.

Asadul’s uncle Kamal could not say either what was the motive behind the murder.

Asadul’s brother started a case at the police station on Tuesday over Asadul going missing.

“We have no idea who might kill him,” their cousin Amirul Islam said.