Body of missing jewellery shop owner found in drum in Mymensingh, Bangladesh

The body of a 50-year-old jewellery shop owner found stuffed inside a drum floating near a sluice gate in Bangladesh's Mymensingh has been identified, police said.

The body was recovered on Wednesday after local residents spotted a drum floating in the water near the sluice gate in the Begunbari area. Police found the body of an unidentified man wrapped in cloth inside the drum. A token belonging to Mymensingh Hindu Cooperative Credit Union Limited was found in the trouser pocket of the body.

Police contacted the organisation using the token, which helped establish the man's identity as Niranjan Chandra Sutradhar, who ran a jointly owned jewellery shop in the Atharbari Building area of Mymensingh city. Niranjan's wife, Sumita Rani Sutradhar, and son, Joy Sutradhar, identified his body on Thursday evening.

Kotwali Model Police Station Sub-Inspector Ruhul Amin said, "After receiving the token, the Mymensingh Hindu Cooperative Credit Union Limited was contacted. The people of the institution helped identify Niranjan after seeing the token. Later, his identity was confirmed by contacting the family," as quoted by Bangladesh's Daily Ittefaq newspaper.

Niranjan lived with his wife and son in a rented house in the Stadium area. He went missing on September 20, but his family did not file a general diary as he had previously stayed away from home for three to four days before returning.

Police said the body had sharp-weapon injury marks on the head and chest. Kotwali Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge Muhammad Shibirul Islam said, "It is initially believed that Niranjan was killed and his body was thrown into the water after being placed in a drum."

Police have not yet established who killed Niranjan or the motive in initial probe. No one had been arrested as of Friday morning. A case had not been registered as of Thursday night, with police saying the process of filing a complaint on behalf of the family was under way.