Was With Tahsif Until Midnight, Parted at House Building: Friend Dip's Account

Retired Bangladesh Air Force flight lieutenant Tahsif Sauri left home on Tuesday evening at the call of Ahmed Shahriar Reza Dip, a younger man he treated like a brother, and stayed with him until around midnight, Dip has claimed.

CCTV footage shows Tahsif leaving home on a motorcycle with Dip on the evening of Tuesday (27 October).

Dip told the media that after leaving home they went to a garage to repair Tahsif's bike. From there, they had dinner at the 'Kukrukku' restaurant at RUAP Shopping Complex in Uttara.

According to Dip, after dinner the two rode back on their separate bikes. They stayed together as far as the Uttara House Building area. At around 12 midnight they parted ways. Dip says he then returned home, and that he knows nothing further about Tahsif.

Asked when they parted, Dip said: 'After dinner we left together. Then I took a U-turn from House Building and headed home, and he went the other way.' He added that there was some distance between their two bikes, since riding side by side is not always possible.

On the time of parting, Dip said it was very difficult to state the exact time, but that it was around 12 at night.

Asked whether Tahsif said anything unusual or received any such phone call while they were together, Dip said he noticed nothing of the kind. However, a call did come to Tahsif's phone during the meal, which seemed to Dip to be a normal conversation.

Dip also said Tahsif did not clearly tell him whether, after parting at midnight, he would go home or somewhere else. 'He did not make it clear to me where he would go. Since he is older than me, I do not always ask him where he is going,' Dip said.

Dip further said that at around 1:35 am Tahsif sent his mother a voice message saying, 'I am coming.' Dip claims that by 1:20 am he had already reached his own home; the distance between his home and Tahsif's home is about 16-17 kilometres. In other words, he claims he reached home long before Tahsif's last conversation with his mother.

On Wednesday (28 October) afternoon, the Tongi naval police outpost recovered Tahsif's floating body from the Rajabari Ghat area of the Turag River.

After the autopsy at Suhrawardy Hospital, Tahsif's body was taken below his home at around 4 pm on Thursday. Many relatives broke down in tears at that time. After the janaza at the local mosque, he was buried in the evening at the graveyard in Uttara Sector 12.