Has Harris Chowdhury faked his death?

Former powerful BNP stalwart Harris Chowdhury has reportedly died, but conflicting media reports based on accounts of his relatives and some unverified documents have triggered speculations that he might have faked his death to elude justice.

A former political secretary to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, Harris was sentenced to life in prison in 2018 on charges of planning an attempted assassination of Awami League President Sheikh Hasina in a grenade attack on August 21 in 2004.

He had also been convicted of corruption during the 2007-08 military-backed caretaker government and in 2018, nearly a decade after the Awami League returned to power, but remained a fugitive.

One of his relatives claimed in January that he had died in the UK last year.

The issue generated speculations in the political circles of late following media reports that he had died in Dhaka after hiding in the capital for over a decade under an alias.

The reports drew the attention of the law enforcers as well, as Harris has an Interpol Red Notice on him for his conviction in the grenade attack case.

The National Central Bureau at the Police Headquarters, which connects the national law enforcement with the Interpol, then sent a letter to the Criminal Investigation Department asking it to confirm whether Harris has really died.

Mohiul Islam, an additional inspector general at the NCB, told bdnews24.com on Thursday that the Red Notice has not been taken down because the CID could not draw a conclusion on the claims of Harris's death after an investigation in Sylhet, from where the former BNP leader hails.

Jishanul Haque, a spokesman for the CID, said they were still investigating the reports.

Harris' cousin Ashiq Chowdhury in a Facebook post in January claimed that Harris had died. Ashiq told the media that the former political secretary had passed away and been buried in the UK.

One media outlet, citing Harris' daughter Samira Chowdhury, who reportedly lives in the UK, said at that time Harris had died in Dhaka on September 3, 2020 and was buried in the capital. The report did not specify how Harris had been hiding in the country evading the eyes of the law enforcers for so long.

But a recent report by the Daily Manab Zamin triggered a storm of discussions with the claim that Harris used an alias, Mahmudur Rahman, to give the police the slip.

Citing Samira, the report said Harris died of the coronavirus infection at Evercare Hospital in the city.

It claimed that Harris had been living in the capital's Green Road for 11 years.

Manab Zamin also provided photos of a death certificate, a national ID card and a passport - all issued against Mahmudur Rahman.

bdnews24.com found that the death certificate is, indeed, valid. But it could not be confirmed whether Mahmudur Rahman was actually Harris.

The death certificate mentions Abdul Hafiz as the guardian of Mahmudur. It says Hafiz lives in Dhaka's Uttara, but no one with that name was found in the address.

Kamrul Hasan, the caretaker of the building, said one of the residents goes by the name Mahmudur Rahman but is alive.

A woman claiming to be Mahmudur's wife said her husband cannot face the media because he was ill. She said the actual name of her husband, a marine engineer, is Shah Mohammad Anupam Mahmudur Rahman Apollo, but he has shortened it to SMA Mahmudur Rahman on papers.

The report claimed Harris was buried at a graveyard of a madrasa as Mahmudur Rahman in Savar's Birulia.

The grave had been bought for a person named Fulon Nesa, but it was used to bury Mahmudur Rahman, said Ashiqur Rahman Quasemi, principal of the institution, Jamia Khatamun Nabyeen.

Fulon Nesa's son Zafar Iqbal Masum, a businessman in Savar, had bought the grave in 2016, according to Ashiqur.

Masum rang up Ashiqur on September 3 to tell him that a person named Mahmudur Rahman would be buried there, the madrasa principal said.

Masum provided the address as Mirpur in Dhaka, but neighbours said the family had travelled to their village home.

Locals said Masum is a brother-in-law to Harris.

bdnews24.com could not reach Masum.

Mahmudur Rahman's passport, a photo of which was published in the media, is "valid", an official at the Department of Immigration and Passports told bdnews24.com, requesting anonymity considering the sensitivity of the issue.

The NID number provided in the reports matches that of a person living in Mirpur's Monipur.

Padri Bangla Road at Sreemangal in Moulvibazar has been used as the permanent address in the passport, but no one named Mahmudur Rahman was found in the area.

Police verification is mandatory to get a passport, but no official of the police's Special Branch, which is tasked with verifying information provided by an applicant, agreed to comment on the issue.

The passport mentions Mahmudur Rahman's son Iqbal Ahmed as the emergency contact. A mobile phone number of Iqbal is also provided.

When bdnews24.com dialled the number, Iqbal Ahmed Topadar, a local BNP leader in Sylhet's Zakiganj took the call.

Iqbal said he was quite well connected with Harris when the BNP was in power. He claimed Harris did not contact him since the party lost in the elections.

"Many people know my number. Maybe someone used it to get the passport," he said, adding that no one contacted him for verification of the information.

No BNP leader would comment on the issue.