Ismail’s journey home ends in suspected murder on Dhaka expressway

A 50-year-old man was found dead with his mouth taped on the Dhaka Elevated Expressway in Banani on Friday. His family said he had been carrying around Tk 5 lakh after selling land in Jamalpur.

The deceased, Ismail Hossain, was travelling from Jamalpur to his home in Gazipur. His relatives suspect that robbers may have targeted him for the money, killed him and dumped his body on the expressway.

Police recovered Ismail’s body on Friday morning and later confirmed his identity through fingerprint matching. Following an autopsy, his body was handed over to his family at the Dhaka Medical College morgue.

According to his son Md Hasan, Ismail had travelled to Jamalpur around four months ago to sell 11 decimals of land for Tk 10.5 lakh to help repay family debts. After paying about Tk 2.5 lakh in debts and spending some money on building a house, he reportedly had around Tk 5 lakh remaining.

Ismail left Jamalpur late Thursday night and told his family that he planned to take a bus to Dhaka around 3:00am. His son went to Zirabo bus stand in Ashulia to receive him the following morning, but Ismail never arrived and his phone was switched off.

The family was later informed by police that his body had been found on the elevated expressway.

Police suspect that Ismail may have been strangled before his body was dumped from a vehicle. Banani Police Station OC Faridul Islam said investigators are reviewing CCTV footage from the expressway to determine what happened and identify those responsible.