AL leader found dead in Cox's Bazar hotel

A municipal Awami League leader was found dead in a room of Sun Moon hotel in Cox's Bazar on Monday (21 August) morning. 

"The deceased has been identified as Saifuddin. The body, which was found with its hands tied, had three stab wounds and bruises on other parts of the body," Cox's Bazar Superintendent of Police Mahfuzul Islam told The Business Standard.
Police came to recover the body based on the information given by the hotel authorities, he added.

"The murder was carried out by stabbing. Police is trying to identify the culprits involved in the murder from various sources including CCTV footage of the hotel. The body will be sent to the morgue for autopsy after necessary investigation," the police official said.

Saifuddin was the forest and environment affairs secretary of Cox's Bazar Municipal Awami League and a former leader of Cox's Bazar district Chhatra League.

"Three people, including the deceased, went to room number 208 of the hotel around 5:30pm on Wednesday (16 August). Friends of the deceased came looking for him on Monday morning," said Rezaul Karim, manager of the hotel.

The manager said he went to the room Saifuddin was staying in with his friends on Monday to check and informed the police after discovering the body. 

Mohiuddin, the brother of the deceased, said "Saifuddin did not come home at night, and his phone was also switched off. Saifuddin's wife called his friends and enquired."

Meanwhile, present and former leaders and activists of different AL affiliate organisations are marching in Cox's Bazar, demanding the immediate arrest of Saifuddin's killers.