Tragic Discovery in Brahmanbaria: Sand Trader Found Tied to Sunken Boat After Six Days
Police recovered the body of a sand trader tied to a sunken wooden boat in the Titas River six days after his disappearance in Bancharampur upazila
Police in Brahmanbaria's Bancharampur upazila recovered the body of a sand trader from the Titas River on Sunday, six days after he went missing under mysterious circumstances. The victim, identified as 40-year-old Mokbul Hossain, was found tied with a rope to the underside of a sunken wooden boat in the Mirpur area, sparking a full-scale homicide investigation by local law enforcement.
Mokbul, a resident of Pathamara village in Salimabad union, was a co-partner in a local sand-dredging business operating on the Titas River. According to family members, police, and local sources, he went missing after 10:00 PM on Tuesday, at which point his mobile phone became unreachable. Initial frantic searches by relatives yielded no results, prompting Mokbul's cousin, Shafiqul Islam, to file a general diary with Bancharampur Police Station on Thursday.
Complicating the timeline, another dredging business partner, Rubel Mia, also vanished from the same area on the day Mokbul's disappearance was reported. Local anxiety heightened until late Saturday night when Rubel was found alive about 100 to 150 feet away from the dredging site. Due to his fragile medical condition, Rubel was initially rushed to Bancharampur Upazila Health Complex and later transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he remains under police guard.
Following notification, a specialized diving team from the Narayanganj River Fire Station led by Leader Mohammad Harunur Rashid commenced rescue operations in the Titas River on Sunday morning. After approximately five and a half hours of underwater searching, divers located Mokbul's body bound to the submerged wooden boat at around 1:30 PM. The body was subsequently retrieved and dispatched to the morgue at Brahmanbaria General Hospital for an autopsy.
Babul Mia, the victim's elder brother, alleged that Rubel was directly responsible for the killing, claiming that Rubel repeatedly misled family members by asserting that Mokbul had traveled to Dhaka before Rubel himself went missing late Thursday night and abruptly reappeared near the dredger on Saturday. Bancharampur Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Yasin stated that investigators suspect Mokbul was initially tied to the wooden boat before the watercraft was sunk using heavy stones. Police confirmed that interrogation of the hospitalized suspect, Rubel, will commence once his medical condition stabilizes.
