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On August 23, the bodies of a woman and a child were recovered from the Buriganga River in Keraniganj. Autopsies indicated they were strangled before being dumped, prompting a murder case at Sadarghat River Police Station. However, the victims remain unidentified due to unreadable fingerprints and no claims from relatives. “Identifying victims is critical for investigation, but we often hit a dead end without knowing who they are,” said Sohag Rana, officer-in-charge of Sadarghat Police Station. DNA samples have been preserved, and details shared with other stations to cross-check missing persons’ reports.
Of the 301 bodies recovered this year, 209 were identified, while 92 remain unidentified. Narayanganj reported the highest number at 34, followed by Dhaka with 32. Last year, 440 bodies were recovered, with 141 unidentified. So far in 2025, 41 murder cases have been filed in connection with these recoveries, compared to 53 in 2024. River police note that the actual number of homicides may be higher, as decomposition, fish bites, or vessel impacts often obscure evidence during autopsies.
A notable case occurred on August 27, when a headless corpse was recovered from the Shitalakkhya River in Narayanganj. Identified through fingerprint matching as Habib, a 27-year-old from Moddhya Kanchpur, the body revealed a gruesome murder. “The head was hidden to prevent identification, but early recovery allowed us to identify him,” said Inspector Abdul Mamud of Kanchpur River Police Outpost
Criminology professor Omar Faruk from Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University explained that rivers are often chosen for body disposal in organized crimes to destroy evidence. “Decomposed bodies or those drifting far from the crime scene make investigations difficult, often denying families justice,” he said.
This issue coincides with broader public safety concerns. Rafid Zaman Khan, a Buet student, recently recounted to *The Daily Star* being brutally beaten by police during a peaceful protest in Shahbagh on August 27. He identified DMP Deputy Commissioner Md Masud Alam among those who assaulted him, an incident captured in a viral photo that DMP claimed was AI-generated. *The Daily Star* and fact-checking organizations debunked this, confirming the image’s authenticity. Rafid’s case underscores tensions with law enforcement, compounding public distrust amid rising crime and unidentified bodies
Kusum Dewan, chief of River Police, emphasized the challenge of identifying decomposed bodies that drift across districts. “We preserve DNA samples and do our best to investigate, but it’s a major hurdle,” he said
