The body of Prabir Mandal, an Indian citizen from West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, has remained in the morgue of Rangpur Medical College Hospital for about five years, since his death in November 2021.
According to hospital and case records, Mandal, then 40, met a Bangladeshi woman on Facebook in September 2021 and travelled to Dahogram in Lalmonirhat's Patgram upazila two months later to meet her.
He fell ill while staying at the house of Azizul Islam, was taken to Patgram Upazila Health Complex, where the duty doctor declared him dead, and an unnatural death case was filed at Patgram police station.
A passport recovered from his clothing showed that he entered Bangladesh in March 2017 on a three-month visitor visa and left via Benapole in March 2018; case records contain no information on how he later re-entered Bangladesh.
A medical board was formed at the hospital on 10 November 2021, and hospital records identify Dr. Raziqul Islam as its president and Drs. Masum Al Arifin and Irfat Sarmin as members.
A morgue attendant, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the body had begun decomposing because of electrical failures and other reasons.
A 14 December 2022 letter from Lalmonirhat district police's special branch recommended a BGB-BSF flag meeting to hand over the body to India, but the handover has not been implemented.
Patgram police station's officer-in-charge, Ramjan Ali, said Mandal's family had been contacted several times but showed no interest in collecting the body; officials also said his younger brother, Subir Mandal, had been asked to receive it, and Deputy Commissioner Ruhul Amin said burial would be arranged after consulting higher authorities.