Missing JP leader's body recovered in city

The dead body of Abdus Salam Bahadur, central leader of Jatiya Party (JP), was recovered near Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital in Dhaka on Saturday night, hours after he went missing.

The victim went missing after going out of his Dhanmondi 27 residence in the city at about 1:30 pm on that day, according to the family members.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Tejgaon zone Additional Deputy Commissioner Rubaiyet Zaman said they found CCTV footage that depicted a young boy and a young girl riding in a private car coming in front of the hospital at about 11:30 pm and dumping the body there. 

Later, both of them left the scene in the red-coloured car. 

Rubaiyet said Abdus Salam Bahadur, 60, was the finance secretary of the Jatiya Party's central committee. He was a contractor by profession. He was from Pirojpur's Indurkani upazila. 

They are yet to have a clear picture of what actually happened and what led to the murder, the police official added.

Akteruzzaman, cousin of the victim, said Salam, a businessman, and contractor, went out of his residence at noon and his family members could not reach him over the phone since then.

About the trace of his dead body, the family was informed by police at about 1:00 am on Sunday, he added. 

Abdul Karim Khalifa, brother of the victim, filed a murder case with Sher-e-Banglanagar police station.

Karim said they cannot speculate any reasons behind the murder as Salam did not have any enmity with any people. "During the identification of the body at the hospital morgue, I found marks of wounds and torture on different parts of his body including legs and hands," he added. 

ADC Rubaiyet said they did not have much development in the investigation yet.
The family did not receive any ransom calls.

"We are analysing different motives including whether Salam is victimised by a blackmailing racket or doping ring. We are also trying to identify the car through CCTV footage analysis," he added.