Death of Diaz: New autopsy reveals bruises

A fresh autopsy has found bruises on the body of Bangladesh Chhatra League leader Diaz Irfan Chowdhury who according to his family was murdered.

“There were some bruises on Diaz's body,” Sohel Mahmud, head of forensic and medicine department at the Dhaka Medical College, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

He said they collected viscera and other samples from the body for tests.

“We can't tell anything for sure now. We will have to wait for the reports. We will also visit the spot where his body was found and talk to the investigators,” he added.

“After all the procedures, we will submit our report with our opinions.”

A three-member committee, comprising doctors Sohel, Pradip Biswas and Kabir Sohel of the DMC, carried out the fresh autopsy at the college yesterday.

On Saturday, Diaz's body was exhumed following a court order. The court passed the order after the investigation officer from the Criminal Investigation Department filed a petition, seeking another postmortem.

On November 20, the body of Diaz, central assistant secretary of the BCL, was found hanging from the ceiling of his room near Chittagong University (CU). The first autopsy report, prepared by Chittagong Medical College Hospital's Forensic department's three doctors led by Prof Md Kashem, said Diaz might have committed suicide.

Diaz's family, however, rejected that and demanded another autopsy. They said there was no similarity between the inquest and the autopsy report.

His friends and family members have been alleging that Diaz was murdered and his body was hung from the ceiling later.

Diaz's elder sister Jobaida Sarwar believes that her brother would never commit suicide.

“We are hopeful about getting justice”, she said, adding that they came to know that the “killers” of his brother were in the capital and that they were trying to manipulate the autopsy report.

On November, 24, Diaz's mother lodged a murder case with a Chittagong court against around 20 people, including CU Assistant Proctor Anwar Hossain and CU BCL President Mohammad Alamgir Tipu.