PBI launches ‘shadow investigation’ into Munia’s death

The Police Bureau of Investigation has started their ‘shadow investigation’ into the death of Mosarat Jahan Munia, who was found hanging in her rented apartment in the capital’s Gulshan on April 26, and the investigators have already inquired about Bashundhara Group managing director Sayem Sobhan Anvir’s visit to the apartment.

A guard, Ayub Ali, at the apartment where the body of Mosarat, 21, was found was interrogated by a group of PBI members during their investigation on Friday.

The investigators said they launched an investigation into the hanging death as long as the Gulshan police were investigating the case filed by the victim’s sister Nusrat Jahan Tania for instigating suicide.

The PBI chief deputy inspector general Banaj Kumar Majumder said they were trying to find out whether they had anything untouched in the investigation.

The police and family members said Mosarat Jahan Munia was a student and used to live in a posh flat arranged by her friend Sayem Sobhan Anvir.

Ayub said, ‘Although I was on shift duty, I saw Sayem sir visiting the flat at least twice since March. The last time saw Sayem sir was at the landing at night of April 21 and he left by his white car.’  He said Sayem also visited on April 20.

He later told New Age that the last time he saw the tenant, Mosarat Jahan Munia, was on April 25, at about 10:00pm, when the driver of the flat’s owner Ibrahim Ahmed Ripon dropped her off at the apartment. Ibrahim also mentioned to New Age that his driver dropped her at the apartment on that day.

Ayub said Mosarat Jahan’s sister Nusrat Jahan Tania visited the apartment on two to three occasions some 25 days ago.

He said that the family members told him on April 26 that they last talked to Munia at about 11:00am over the phone.

Gulshan police deputy commissioner Sudip Kumar Chakrabarty said they were still examining the CCTV footage from the DVR installed at the apartment and were trying to determine the number of visits Sayem made to the flat.

‘We found his last visit was on April 21 and no visit has been detected until April 26,’ Sudip Kumar said citing the footage that they examined until April 19.

In her complaint with Gulshan police station, Mosarat’s sister Nusrat said that they came to Dhaka on Monday afternoon after Mosarat had called her, saying that Sayem had deceived her and would not marry her and she was in trouble. Later her body was found hanging from the ceiling.

The police said they found some photos of Sayem and Mosarat together inside the flat that has been rented out at Tk 1 lakh a month with an additional service charge of Tk 11,000.

Sayem’s international travel was banned by the metropolitan magistrate court on April 27 but her wife and four family members flew for UAE on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Forum Bangladesh in a statement on Friday demanded fair investigation and justice into the recovered body of the student and demanded that it should be ensured that the investigation and trial remain uninfluenced by Sayem or any others person of social stature.