Body of Jamiat leader recovered from river 3 days after going missing in Sunamganj

The body of Maulana Mushtaq Ahmad Gazinagari, 52, a leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh, was recovered from a river in Sunamganj's Dirai upazila this morning (5 September)—three days after he went missing.

According to Dirai Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abdur Razzak, local residents informed the police after spotting the body in the river. Law enforcement officials then recovered the body and sent it to the hospital for post-mortem.

Maulana Mushtaq Ahmad Gazinagari was a central executive member of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and also served as the vice-president of the Sunamganj district unit of the party. He had been actively campaigning at the grassroots level as a nomination aspirant for the upcoming national elections from the Sunamganj-3 constituency (covering Jagannathpur and Shantiganj).

He was the principal of Bormoha Darul Uloom Islamia Arabia Madrasa in Shantiganj upazila and a resident of Gazinagar village under Patharia Union. He was the son of Abdul Mannan.

Maulana Mushtaq went missing on Tuesday (2 September). That night around 10pm, he left his home in Gazinagar, Shantiganj, saying he was heading to Sunamganj town—but never returned. Family members repeatedly tried to contact him on his mobile phone, which was found switched off.

On Wednesday (3 September), his wife, Ruby Begum, filed a general diary (GD) with Shantiganj Police Station regarding his disappearance. A protest demanding his safe return was also held in Shantiganj yesterday (4 September).