A local BNP leader from Bagerhat was found dead in a hotel room in Bijoynagar of the capital on Thursday.
The deceased was identified as Hazra Shahidul Islam Bablu, 68, general secretary of the Bagerhat district unit BNP.
Family members said he had a history of heart disease.
According to Paltan police, Bablu had checked into Room 324 on the third floor of the hotel on Wednesday morning. On Thursday around 1:30pm, he was found unconscious in the bathroom.
Hotel staff and an acquaintance attempted to assist him before calling emergency services. His body was later sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for autopsy.
Sub-Inspector Nuruzzaman of Paltan police station said that preliminary information from family members suggests Bablu, who had suffered a heart attack previously, may have died of natural causes. Further investigation is underway.
Relatives said Bablu had come to Dhaka from his village in Kochua, Bagerhat, to submit nomination papers and attend a party meeting. He had contested parliamentary elections in 2018 but was unsuccessful. In addition to politics, Bablu ran a fishing trawler business and a grocery store.
According to his family, after attending a party meeting on Wednesday afternoon, Bablu returned to the hotel and had dinner with the BNP district president.
When the president left, Shahidul Islam Bablu was alone in his room. By late Wednesday evening, family members were unable to reach him by phone.
On Thursday morning, political associates went to the hotel and, with hotel staff’s assistance, found him dead in the bathroom.
