Shillong, Aug 29: The mystery surrounding the recovery of the semi-decomposed body of Bangladesh’s Awami League functionary, Ishaque Ali Khan Panna, by Meghalaya Police at Dona Bhoi village in East Jaintia Hills on August 26 has raised more questions than answers.
The body has been identified, for now, through the passport recovered from the body. The body was found inside a betel-nut plantation, which is around 4.5 km from the Bangladesh border by villagers and handed over to the police, which conducted a post mortem.
According to the post mortem report, Panna was “throttled to death” or in simpler terms, he was ‘strangulated’ to death. “The cause of the death is asphyxia caused by throttling”, however the final say on the cause of the death would be confirmed by the Forensic Science laboratory report.
There were also lacerated wounds on the body, especially on the “lower right part of the orbital region”. There were abrasions and bruises on the forehead, which could indicate a struggle by the victim.
Apart from the post mortem report, it’s uncertain who killed the victim, if at all he was throttled to death. There are conflicting reports that Panna was strangled to death by the villagers of Donna Cherra in Bangladesh and his body later dumped inside India.
The Bangladesh media claims that he died of a heart attack while climbing the hills of Meghalaya. Others claimed that he was probably shot by the BSF.
Now with the post mortem report confirming strangulation, the question arises why the Bangladesh media was fed wrong information by the security officials of Bangladesh that the victim died of a heart attack and also correctly mentioned about his body being in India.
The BSF had categorically said that as per their intel, Panna was killed in Donna Cherra village by either the Bangladesh Border Guards or the villagers. The allegation that the BSF might have shot him is now totally ruled out.
Moreover, Panna was carrying a huge amount of money in cash. According to family sources, Panna was carrying US dollars worth around Rs. 3 crore. Meghalaya police have said no money was found on the body. The question now arises where and how this huge amount disappeared.
BSF, meanwhile, has stuck to its earlier statement that Panna was killed in Donna Cherra village in Bangladesh. “The truth will be revealed in the days to come,” a senior BSF official said.
Panna’s body, meanwhile, would be handed over to the family when they approach the Meghalaya government and not directly by the police. “This probably would be done through diplomatic channels,” Meghalaya police said.
Panna was a former general secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League affiliated to the Awami League. He also held several important posts within the party from Pirojpur district.
He and other Awami League members went into hiding from August 5 after the Sheikh Hasina government was ousted fearing retribution from radicals on a killing spree,
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