The body of a 28-year-old former Bangladesh Air Force officer was recovered from the Turag River in Dhaka on Wednesday, a day after he reportedly went missing, raising questions about the circumstances surrounding his death.
Retired Flight Lieutenant K M Tahsif Souri was found floating in the river near Rajabari Ghat in the capital’s Uttarkhan area at around 4:30 p.m. on October 28.
Police have yet to establish the cause of his death, and neither law enforcement authorities nor the military have confirmed that he was murdered.
His death has attracted particular attention because of claims linking him to a widely circulated video showing former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leaving Bangladesh by aircraft during the political upheaval of August 5, 2024.
However, his alleged involvement in recording or circulating the footage has not been independently verified, and no connection between the video and his death has been established.
Police Await Autopsy Findings
The death of a former military officer at such a young age has sparked widespread speculation, with social media users raising questions about possible premeditated murder or enforced disappearance. Neither allegation, however, has been substantiated by investigators.
Abdullah Al Mamun, superintendent of police for the River Police’s Dhaka region, told The Voice that investigators had not yet determined the cause of Tahsif’s death.
“No information was immediately available about the cause of his death. The body will be handed over to his relatives after the postmortem examination,” he said.
Shaheenur Zaman, the duty officer at Uttarkhan Police Station, confirmed the recovery on Thursday morning, October 29.
He said the Tongi River Police Outpost had recovered the former officer’s body the previous afternoon. No complaint had been filed with Uttarkhan Police Station as of Thursday morning, and the River Police would take the necessary legal steps.
‘My Brother Was Murdered. What Was His Crime?’
Mosfeka Jahan, a maternal cousin of Tahsif Souri, has alleged that he was murdered after being subjected to prolonged psychological harassment over a video showing former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fleeing Bangladesh.
In a Facebook post, Mosfeka claimed that Tahsif had faced sustained psychological pressure for sharing the video of Hasina’s departure. She also alleged that intelligence personnel continued to monitor him even after his retirement from the Bangladesh Air Force, something Tahsif had reportedly told her himself.
“My brother was murdered. What was his crime? Sharing the video of Hasina fleeing? He didn’t even record it himself. He merely shared it as a citizen. One of his colleagues filmed it,” she wrote.
“Even after forcing him into retirement and subjecting him to psychological torment day after day, they were not satisfied. They had to kill him,” she added.
Expressing anger at those she believes were responsible for his death, Mosfeka questioned whether her cousin had been targeted simply for being patriotic.
She further alleged that Tahsif had been in good health when he was called out of his home and subsequently killed.
Referring to her aunt’s participation in street protests during Bangladesh’s July 2024 uprising, Mosfeka also questioned what wrongdoing her aunt had committed to deserve such suffering.
Her allegations have not been independently verified, and police have not established that Tahsif’s death was a homicide.
Body Identified Through Mobile Phone
Inspector Firoz Uddin of the Tongi River Police Outpost said officers responded to a call to the national emergency helpline, 999, on Wednesday afternoon.
A police team arrived at the Rajabari Ghat area along the Turag River in Uttarkhan and recovered the body, which was initially unidentified.
During the preliminary examination, officers found the deceased wearing white pajama trousers and a black shirt. He also had a wristwatch, and an iPhone was recovered from his pocket.
Police used information from the phone to identify him as K M Tahsif Souri, a former flight lieutenant in the Bangladesh Air Force.
Tahsif was the son of K M Enayetur and lived with his family on Road 14/B in Sector 18 of Uttara, Dhaka.
He had reportedly been missing since Tuesday night, October 27.
Following the recovery, police prepared an inquest report and sent the body to the morgue of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital for a postmortem examination.
Questions Over Viral Video of Hasina’s Departure
Tahsif’s name had previously surfaced in discussions surrounding a video that circulated during the collapse of Sheikh Hasina’s government on August 5, 2024.
The footage purportedly showed the then-prime minister leaving Bangladesh by aircraft from the Kurmitola airport area as mass protests brought an end to her administration.
Claims circulating on social media and in political discussions suggested that Tahsif had recorded or released the footage.
However, accounts differ over whether he filmed the video himself or was involved in distributing it. No independently verified evidence has established his precise role.
Following the political changeover, Tahsif left the Bangladesh Air Force. His departure has been described in some accounts as compulsory retirement.
On August 4, 2025, the Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate (ISPR) issued a statement saying that Tahsif had been retired in accordance with institutional rules, under different circumstances and without any allegations against him.
The military’s statement did not establish any connection between his retirement and the viral footage.
Renewed attention to the video following his death has raised questions about his military service and the circumstances of his disappearance. However, police have not established any link between those matters and his death.
Hundreds of Bodies Recovered From Bangladesh’s Rivers
Tahsif’s death comes amid continuing concerns over the recovery of bodies from rivers and waterways across Bangladesh.
Since the political changeover of August 5, 2024, reports of bodies being discovered in rivers have repeatedly drawn public attention, including cases in which victims were allegedly murdered before their bodies were dumped in the water.
According to River Police statistics cited in recent reports, 971 bodies were recovered from rivers across Bangladesh between January 2025 and September 2026.
The figures include deaths attributed to suspected homicide, accidental drowning and suicide.
River Police officials have acknowledged that criminals sometimes dump bodies in waterways to conceal evidence and evade arrest.
Prolonged exposure to water and decomposition can complicate efforts to determine the cause of death and identify perpetrators.
However, there is no evidence at this stage that Tahsif’s death involved such circumstances.
Investigators must now establish how the former air force officer died, where he was last seen and what happened between his reported disappearance on Tuesday and the discovery of his body the following afternoon.
The postmortem findings are expected to provide crucial medical evidence in determining whether his death resulted from drowning, injuries or another cause.
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