One of the most widely circulated videos of the recent Gopalganj violence surrounding the National Citizen Party (NCP) rally shows security personnel dragging away the unconscious body of a young man. Confusion soon spread over the identity of the youth and how he was injured or killed.
An on-the-ground investigation by Times of Bangladesh confirmed the young man’s identity and how he may have been killed, after visiting the place where he was dragged, seeing his bullet wounds and bloodstains, and speaking to hospital staff and his parents.
The investigation revealed that the young man was Ramzan Kazi, aged 17, an assistant to a tiles mason by profession. He was shot dead by security forces on 16 July during the violent clashes.
Blood was found at the scene on Bangabandhu Road, near Alia Madrasa in Gopalganj town. “It was around 4:00pm when we saw him being dragged away, but we couldn’t say where they took him as we fled in fear,” said an eyewitness, speaking on condition of anonymity.
His body was later found lying near the launch ghat, according to witnesses. Family members then took him to hospital, where he was declared dead.
Speaking to Times of Bangladesh, Ramzan’s father Kamrul Kazi confirmed that his son’s body bore four to five bullet wounds.
Multiple eyewitnesses said that on the day of the violence, which left five people dead, Ramzan and a group of his friends had been standing near the Alia Madrasa area by the lakeside, close to the NCP rally venue at the municipal park. Around 3:45pm, clashes broke out between Awami League activists, members of its banned student wing Chhatra League, and law enforcement personnel as the rally was drawing to a close.
They said Ramzan, who was standing at what was thought to be a safe distance, was watching the events unfold out of curiosity. Three of his friends were with him. As the clashes intensified, army personnel arrived to assist the Armed Police Battalion (APBn) and police.
At some point during the clashes, he was seen being dragged by several members of the security forces. There is, however, no information on where he was taken or who exactly shot him while he was in custody.
At around 4:30pm, our reporter saw Ramzan’s father Kamrul Kazi and uncle Kalim Munshi carrying his body on a rickshaw van to the Sadar Hospital. The reporter observed a bullet wound through his neck and heavy bleeding.
His identity was confirmed to Times of Bangladesh by his father, his mother Morjina Begum, and his uncle after they recognised Ramzan in a widely-shared Facebook video of the incident.
His father said they were informed by someone that a body was lying near the launch ghat and it could be his son.
“We rushed there immediately and found Ramzan lying in a pool of blood,” his uncle told Times of Bangladesh.
They took his body to the 250-bed District General Hospital on a rickshaw van, where he was pronounced dead from bullet injuries. The moment of his arrival was captured by Times of Bangladesh cameras.
However, the hospital did not conduct his autopsy and insisted on a swift burial, even after Ramzan’s family requested it.
The hasty burials of Ramzan and three other victims without post-mortem examinations have raised serious concerns.
Like Ramzan, the hospital did not conduct post-mortems for the others either, blaming the victims’ families.
According to relatives and hospital sources, none of the four bodies underwent standard inquest reporting either.
His father further alleged, “Hospital officials told us there would be no post-mortem. They told us to take the body and go. We went to the police station, but they turned us away as well.”
Among the dead was Dipto Saha, 30, a garment trader from Udayan Road, who was cremated at the municipal crematorium that night. Ramzan Kazi, from Harinahati village in Kotalipara, was buried after evening prayers.
The following morning, the remaining two victims — Sohel Rana, 35, a mobile phone shop owner from Sanapara, and Iman Talukder, 24, an employee at a crockery shop in Bherar Bazar — were laid to rest at the municipal cemetery.
Both the victims’ families and hospital authorities confirmed that the bodies bore gunshot wounds.
However, repeated attempts by Times of Bangladesh to reach the hospital’s superintendent Dr Zebtish Biswas by phone went unanswered. This reporter tried to meet him in person on Thursday and Friday to ask why the hospital allowed the bodies to be taken without autopsies but was unsuccessful.
Police reportedly instructed the burials to proceed without autopsies. Yet, according to a report by BBC Bangla, the official police narrative claimed post-mortems were impossible because “unruly crowds had already taken the bodies away.”