Families not taking bodies
Even though a month has passed since the unprecedented terror attack in the Gulshan café took place, none of the families of the five militants killed a commando operation claimed their bodies.
Families of the nine militants killed in a police raid in city's Kalyanpur did not make any claims either in the last five days.
Bodies of the five militants, who killed 20 people, mostly foreigners, at Holey Artisan Bakery on July 1, remain at the city's Combined Military Hospital (CMH), said Sirajul Islam, officer-in-charge of Gulshan Police Station.
“No one has submitted any written application claiming the bodies,” the OC added.
The militants were identified as Nibras Islam, Rohan Imtiaz, Meer Saameh Mubasheer, Khairul Islam Payel and Shafiqul Islam Uzzal.
The body of Saiful Islam, a chef of the café who has been mentioned in the first information report as an accused, also remains at the mortuary of the hospital.
Talking to The Daily Star, Saiful's sister Moina Begum said they believe Saiful was not a militant and that they want to bury the body.
“We are in an uncomfortable situation. Our neighbours are not behaving normally with us. They suspect him to be a militant as we haven't got the body yet,” she said.
However, police said only Saiful's family verbally wanted to take his body, but the law enforcers are yet to receive any written application from them in this regard.
Two policemen were also killed during the July 1 hostage crisis when the militants stormed the café. Commandos put an end to the siege in the morning, killing the five.
Bodies of the nine Kalyanpur militants killed on July 26 are preserved at the Dhaka Medical College morgue.
Verifying their fingerprints with those in the Election Commission's database, police identified eight of them as Abdullah, Abu Hakim Nayeem, Taj-ul-Haque Rashiq, Atiquzzaman Khan, Shazad Rouf Arko, Md Motiar Rahman, Md Jubayer Hossain, Raihan Kabir.
Except for Shazad's father, Tawhid Rouf, and his two relatives, no one visited the DMC morgue to identify the bodies kept there after autopsies.
However, Tawhid could not confirm his son's body, saying they are confused, doctors said.
Sohel Mahmud, assistant professor of forensic medicine department of DMC, said no decision has yet been made on what to do with the bodies and that the authorities concerned would make the decision.
A top DMP official said the bodies would be handed over to their relatives, if they claim those, after DNA matching.
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