The Meghalaya Government handed over the body of Awami League leader Ishaque Ali Khan Panna to Bangladeshi authorities.
| Photo Credit: PTI

GUWAHATI

The Meghalaya Government handed over the body of Awami League leader Ishaque Ali Khan Panna to Bangladeshi authorities on Saturday (August 31, 2024).

Panna was found dead at an inclined betel nut plantation in the Dona Bhoi area of the State’s East Jaintia Hills district on August 26. The spot is about 1.5 km from the India-Bangladesh border.

Officials in Meghalaya said the Bangladesh government had deputed an official to collect the body from the district’s Khliehriat Civil Hospital. The body was handed over to the representative of Dhaka after identification and necessary paperwork.

The Awami League leader’s body was then taken to a friendship gate of the Border Security Force and the Border Guard Bangladesh at Dawki, from where it was taken to Bangladesh’s Pirojpur district via Tamabil across the border.

Police officials in Meghalaya said Panna was identified from a passport found on his body. The State Government did not share the post-mortem report but the local media cited unnamed police officials to claim he died due to asphyxia after being throttled.

Earlier, the Meghalaya Government informed New Delhi and Dhaka about the recovery of the body. Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, also the Home Minister, said on Friday (August 30, 2024) that the relatives of the deceased identified the body and they were on their way to Meghalaya.

“The exact cause of death will be known after the forensic test report is received and the case will be probed further,” he said.

Guwahati:

A top leader of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party, Ishaque Ali Khan Panna, who had reportedly fled the country after her government collapsed, was found dead in Meghalaya, not far from the Bangladesh border, Meghalaya police said in a press release today. Police sources added that his postmortem report suggests that he had been strangled.

Meghalaya police said the semi-decomposed body was found inside a betel-nut plantation in East Jaintia Hills’ Dona Bhoi village on August 26. The area is 1.5 km from the India- Bangladesh border.

The body was identified by the passport he was carrying, sources said.

Police sources added that the postmortem report said he died because of strangulation — “the cause of the death is asphyxia caused by throttling”. The body has been sent for forensic analysis, sources said.

There were also multiple lacerations on the body. There were abrasions and bruises on the forehead, “which could indicate a struggle by the victim,” the report added, said police sources.

Panna was a former general secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League affiliated to the Awami League.