Rangpur: Special public prosecutor Rathish Chandra Bhowmik was found dead at Tajhat Mollahpara of Rangpur early on Wednesday, five days after he went missing.

Based on the information gleaned from his wife Snigdha Sarkar Dipa, members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) recovered Rathish’s body from under the ground at an under-construction building site around 2am, Commanding Officer of Rab-13 Major Armin Rabbi told UNB.

Later, victim’s brother Sushanta Bhowmik identified him.

Earlier on Tuesday night, the elite force picked up Snigdha, an assistant teacher of Tajhat High School, for interrogation over the missing of her husband.

Following her confessional statement, RAB recovered the body of the lawyer from the under-construction building of the brother of Snigdha’s colleague Quamrul Islam.

Earlier, on Monday, Quamrul and his colleague Atiar Rahman were detained over the incident.

Speaking at a press briefing at the Rab-13 headquarters, Rab Director General Benazir Ahmed claimed that Snigdha and Quamrul who were in an illicit relationship strangulated the lawyer to death on Thursday night.

‘Snigdha had an extramarital affair with Quamrul. On Thursday night (March 29), Snigdha made Rathish unconscious feeding him milk and rice laced with 10 sleeping pills,’ he said.

Later, both Snigdha and Quamrul strangulated Rathish to death, the Rab chief said, adding that they made the plot to kill Rathish two months back and three other people assisted them to make the plan a success.

On Friday, Snigdha and Quamrul kept the body inside an almirah and later took it to the under-construction building site by a van where they buried it, he said.

Two of Quamrul’s students—Sabuj Islam and Rukonuzzaman—dug the earth in exchange for Tk 300 each, Benazir said.

Meanwhile, police filed a case with Kotwali Police Station over the murder.

Rathish Chandra Bhowmik, who represented the state in the Japanese citizen Kunio Hoshi and Khadem Rahmat Ali killing cases, had remained missing since Friday morning.

Hoshi Kunio,  was gunned down near his farmhouse at Kachu Alutary in Kaunia upazila on October 3, 2015.

In February last year, a special court of Rangpur convicted five members of banned Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) of killing Kunio Hoshi and sentenced them to death.

Rahmat Ali, Khadem (caretaker) of a shrine in Kaunia upazila, was hacked and slaughtered at Chaitarmor of Tepamadhupur union in upazila while he was returning home from a local bazaar on November 10, 2015.

On March 18 last, a Rangpur court sentenced seven JMB members to death in a case filed over the murder.