Due to an identity complication, the body of female journalist Abhishruti Shastri, who died in the devastating fire at Bailey Road on February 29, has been lying at the Dhaka Medical College morgue for nine days.
Police say there is no hope of solving this identity problem quickly and it will take some time. They will not be able to hand over her body before resolving the identification issue.
Although she is known as journalist Abhishruti, her family claims that her name is Brishti Khatun. Her education certificates also have the same name. But the dead body handover process was stopped after the authorities of Ramna Kali Mandir and some of her colleagues raised objections citing her religious identity.
Ramna police OC Utpal Barua on Saturday told The Business Post that the decision on handing over her body will be taken after receiving the DNA test report. The body of another Bailey Road fire victim is also still preserved at the morgue, pending identification.
He said the DNA testing process and report preparation in both cases could take a week or two, or even a month before handing over the body.
Shabrul Alam Sabuj, who claims to be the father of Abhishruti, said that he had given the sample for DNA testing and provided all kinds of necessary information. “I’m now waiting for her body. But no one can say exactly when we will get it.”
The fire on February 29 first broke out at Chumuk Coffeehouse on the ground floor of the seven-storey building, named Green Cozy Cottage, in the capital’s Bailey Road. Forty-six people, including 20 men, 18 women and eight children, were killed in the fire.
Three injured are still being treated at hospitals. One of them is undergoing treatment at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery and two are at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
