India to hand over Panna’s body to Bangladesh today

The Government of Meghalaya state in India will hand over the body of Ishaque Ali Khan Panna, a leader of Awami League and former General Secretary of Chhatra League, to Bangladesh High Commission officials on Saturday. 

The body is still at the border and will be taken to his home in Pirojpur district in Bangladesh through the Dawki Land Port in West Jaintia Hill, a top Meghalaya official said.

The Meghalaya government had earlier stated that it was waiting for instructions from the Centre on the next steps to be taken following the recent recovery of the politician’s body. Panna had fled Bangladesh after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime and had allegedly entered India illegally, likely through the Dona Bhoi area of East Jaiñtia Hills (EJH) District, approximately 1.5 kilometres from the Indo-Bangladesh border, reports NDTV.

The body, discovered on the evening of August 26, 2024, has been identified through a Bangladeshi passport. It was handed over to a close associate of Panna's family, who has been authorised by the Bangladesh High Commission to identify the body and complete the necessary paperwork, early morning at around 5 am.

The body had been kept in the Khliehriat Civil Hospital's morgue for identification. A post-mortem indicated that he died of throttling. His autopsy report also indicated that the death was from strangulation, raising further doubt on how he died. 

Deputy Chief Minister in charge of Home (Police), Prestone Tynsong, had said, "We have informed the higher authorities and also the High Commissioners of Bangladesh and India about the discovery of the body, and now we are waiting for instructions from the Home Ministry on the next steps to be taken."

"The Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs are taking care of everything, and our responsibility as the state government is only to hand over the dead body to the concerned family members once they reach Meghalaya (India)," he had said.

The Ministry of External Affairs, India and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh had been working closely ever since the body of Panna was found in Meghalaya, close to the Bangladesh border on August 26.

However, before the formal handover of the body, forensic test samples were to be collected to aid in the investigation of how the politician died.