Two young men whose bodies were recovered from the Atrai River in Chirirbandar upazila of Dinajpur on Monday have been identified but police are yet to determine whether they were murdered.
The deceased were identified as Mohammad Russell Mia, 25, son of Saidul Islam of Subhashahar Ward No. 7 near Phulbari bus stand and his friend Al Amin, 28, son of late Nur Mohammad of Nimnagar South Balubari Line area.
Police recovered the bodies as unidentified from near the Lakhitala Bridge over the Atrai River in Bhial Union’s Baniakhari Dolla village on Monday.
Inspector Ahsan Habib of Chirirbandar Police Station said a special team of the Criminal Investigation Department attempted to identify the bodies through fingerprint scanning, but the effort was unsuccessful.
Later in the afternoon, family members identified the bodies at Dinajpur Medical College Hospital morgue by the clothes they were wearing.
Quoting family members, the police officer said Russell and Al Amin used to go out together and return home after five to seven days.
They left their homes together around 9:30 pm on January 6 and did not return.
Their families had lost contact with them and were preparing to file a general diary at the police station.
After receiving information from the morgue staff, they went there and identified the bodies.
Police said the bodies had remained in the river for several days which made identification difficult.
An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the deaths, he said .