Tortured or not?

Family members of UGC official Omar Siraj, who died in Rab custody on Thursday, alleged that he was subjected to torture and they saw injury marks on his body at the morgue of Dhaka Medical College.

The Rapid Action Battalion, however, denies the allegation and claims Siraj died from heart attack.   

Siraj, 32, an assistant director of University Grants Commission (UGC), was arrested on September 18 for his suspected involvement in question paper leak of medical college admission and job recruitment tests. He was on a two-day remand from Wednesday.

Sohel Mahmud, assistant professor of forensic medicine department at DMC, after an autopsy said they were still not in a position to reach a conclusion.

“We have collected heart samples for test at histopathology department. We will submit the final report after verifying everything,” he told The Daily Star.

Morgue sources, however, told this newspaper that there were injury marks on the body. Asked what might have caused those wounds, they declined to say anything.   

Ashraful Islam Ashraf, elder brother of Siraj, said the family heard about his death from Rab-4 at Thursday midnight. They could see the body at the morgue in the morning. 

Talking to the media at the medical college, the family members, including the wife of Siraj, said they met him several times after his arrest and he was in good health. He died in Rab custody because he was tortured on remand, they alleged. 

Ashraf said Siraj didn't have any heart problem.  

Rab-4 spokesperson ABM Mujahidul Islam said Siraj was rushed to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases as he felt chest pain on Thursday afternoon. Admitted to the hospital, he passed away around 7:00pm.

The official added Siraj was not tortured and the injury marks the family is talking about were old.

Amid public outrage over the death, noted citizens, academicians, intellectuals and students yesterday at a demonstration in Shahbagh termed it a "planned murder" and demanded a fair probe into the incident.

Rights body Ain o Salish Kendra also expressed deep concern in a statement.