Body of Cumilla University teacher's son recovered a day after disappearance

The body of Ishiat Shahriar Opritom, the only son of Dr Nahida Begum, an associate professor in the Department of Bangla at Cumilla University, was recovered on Saturday, a day after he went missing from the Kotbari area of Cumilla.

His body was recovered from a wooded area beside Magic Paradise Park, near the university, at around 1pm. A serious injury was found on his head.

Opritom, 13, was a Class Seven student at Border Guard Public School. He went missing after leaving his home in the Gandhamati area of Ward No. 24 of Cumilla City Corporation on foot around 3:30pm on Friday. He did not return home.

Following his disappearance, his father, K M Firoz Shahriar, filed a general diary (GD) with Cumilla Sadar Dakshin Police Station. The family searched various places and also appealed on social media for help in locating him.

In a Facebook post, Opritom’s mother, Dr Nahida Begum, said she had been unable to find her son since 3pm. He was wearing a panjabi when he went missing. She said Opritom had taken her iPhone with him to take photographs with his friends. The phone was later found to be switched off, and its location could not be traced.

Dr Nahida said Opritom had told his father before leaving home. He had grown up in Cumilla since he was two years old and knew the area well.

“That is why I do not think he was the kind of boy who would simply disappear like this,” she said.

The family waited until around 10pm but received no information about him. They then contacted his friends and searched their homes before filing the GD with police.

Opritom’s father, K M Firoz Shahriar, also said the family had been unable to trace him since Friday afternoon. He said Opritom had left home with the iPhone to take photographs with his friends and never returned.

Cumilla Sadar Dakshin Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Rakibul Hasan said a GD had been filed over Opritom’s disappearance.

Police collected CCTV footage from various locations as part of the search, while efforts to obtain additional footage were also underway.

According to the OC, CCTV footage showed Opritom visiting several shops. Police were also checking the last known location of the phone he was carrying and when it was switched off.

Meanwhile, Opritom’s body was recovered from the wooded area beside Magic Paradise Park on Saturday afternoon.

As a serious injury was found on his head, police have begun investigating the circumstances surrounding his death and what may have happened to him.