Family claims deceased was carrying USD worth 3 crore in Indian currency;
police say no money was found
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Aug 29: Bangladesh’s Awami League functionary Ishaque Ali Khan Panna was “throttled to death”, as per the post-mortem report.
Confirming this on Thursday, a police source, quoting the post-mortem report, told The Shillong Times that the cause of death is asphyxia caused by throttling.
The forensic report will be able to give a better picture on the cause of Panna’s death, the police source said.
While the cause of Panna’s death has been established, questions remain as to who might have been responsible for the homicide?
Did Bangladeshi political rivals chase him up to Meghalaya and kill him? If so, is it so simple to breach international border security? Or is it a local act?
There were no immediate answers to these questions. Reports emanating from East Jaintia Hills were sketchy. Police sources in Shillong also could not shed much light into the incident.
BSF sources, however, claimed that Panna was strangled to death by either the villagers of Donna Cherra in Bangladesh or the Border Guard Bangladesh after which his body was dumped inside India.
However, the recovery of the body from a betel nut plantation located in the Dona Bhoi area of East Jaintia Hills, approximately 1.5 km inside the Indo-Bangladesh international border, raises more questions than what the BSF has answered.
The body was recovered in a semi-decomposed state and Panna’s identity was confirmed from his Bangladeshi passport that was recovered along with the body.
Another unconfirmed report, quoting Panna’s family members, claims that he was carrying a huge amount of money in cash. The family sources claimed that Panna was carrying US currency worth around Rs 3 crore in Indian value.
Meghalaya Police have, however, categorically denied finding any money along with the body.
Panna’s body is likely to be handed over to his family if and when they approach the Meghalaya government. “This probably would be done through diplomatic channels,” Meghalaya Police said, adding that they would not be able to hand over the body directly.
The body has been kept at the Khliehriat Civil Hospital morgue.
Initial reports published in Bangladeshi media had claimed that Panna had died of a heart attack while climbing a hill in Meghalaya in an attempt to flee his country on August 24.
The BSF had dismissed the reports as false and fabricated.
“The BSF Meghalaya Frontier strongly refutes the misleading reports circulated by esteemed media houses concerning the death of former Awami League leader Ishaque Ali Khan Panna inside Indian territory in the Sylhet-bordering area. Recently no infiltration/illegal entry of Bangladeshi nationals was reported in the area of responsibility of the Meghalaya Frontier of BSF along the Indo-Bangladesh border,” the force had said in a statement.