Acting on a court order, Dhaka Metropolitan Police yesterday exhumed the body of a Japanese woman who died mysteriously about a month ago and was buried as a Muslim at a graveyard in Uttara in the capital. After the body was exhumed from Banani graveyard, it was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) morgue for an autopsy however forensic doctors failed to find any injury marks. Assistant Professor of the Forensic Medicine Department, DMCH, Sohel Mahmud, said that as the body had totally decomposed, it was impossible to identify any injury marks. Some portions of the liver, stomach and kidney were collected for chemical analysis while portions of tooth and nail were collected for DNA tests. Earlier, five persons were arrested for their suspected involvement in the case of the missing Japanese woman identified  as Hiroye Miyata, including Maruful Islam, Rashedul Haque Bappi, Fakhrul Islam, Jahangir Hossain and Dr Bimal Chandra Shil. The court, helmed by Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Rani
Chakraborty, remanded each of the arrested accused to four days. On November 19, 24 days after the mysterious disappearance of Hiroye, an official from the Japanese Embassy in Dhaka filed a general diary (GD) with Uttara police station. According to the GD, Hiroye’s mobile phone number had been found switched off since October 26, and she last spoke to her mother that day, after which, she went missing. Later, Operation Officer of Uttara police station, Mizanur Rahman, filed a case of murder (no 11 under 302/201/34 Section) with the concerned police station on November 22.
Hiroye was buried a Muslim at Khalpar graveyard in Sector 12 of Uttara by a person who introduced himself as her grandson. Sources said Hiroye had been staying in Bangladesh since 2006 without any valid papers. She had reportedly been trying to contact her mother in Japan for the past few days. Her mother contacted officials of the Japanese Embassy in Dhaka. Finding no trace of Hiroye, the embassy officials filed a GD with Uttara east on November 19. Thereafter, police began investigating into the case and arrested five persons in connection with Hiroye’s sudden disappearance. Meanwhile, the arrested accused told the police that Hiroye died due to diarrhoea but the death was not reported to any local police station or government hospital as she had been living in Bangladesh illegally. Since it was not possible to send her body back to Japan due to lack of legal documents, she was buried a Muslim at the Uttara graveyard; the accused told the police.