Former Bangladesh Air Force officer linked to Hasina video found dead; inquest notes no external injuries

On Wednesday, October 28, the body of KM Tahsif Souri, 28, was recovered from the Turag River near Rajabari Ghat in Dhaka. He had gone missing a day earlier. Souri was a former Bangladesh Air Force officer whose name had been tied in public reporting to the video of Sheikh Hasina leaving the country in August 2024.

His body was sent to the morgue at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem examination, according to Bangladeshi media. The cause of death has not been established.

The Daily Star reported on Thursday on an inquest report prepared by Sub-Inspector Mostafizur Rahman of the Tongi River Police Outpost. It found no external injuries on the body. It did record that blood was coming from the nose and that the abdomen appeared swollen. The eyes and mouth were closed, the arms were bent toward the head, and both hands were clenched into fists.

The report also gave a physical description: about 5 feet 7 inches tall, black hair, short beard and moustache, wearing a black full-sleeved shirt and white trousers. According to bdnews24, police found a wristwatch on his wrist and an iPhone in his pocket, and the phone was used to establish his identity. An inquest report documents the apparent condition of a body in cases of unnatural death. It does not by itself say how the person died.

Souri first drew public attention through reports that he was involved in recording or sharing footage of Hasina leaving Bangladesh by aircraft on August 5, 2024, as protests brought down her government. The footage circulated widely. Media reports later linked his name to it, though the reports cited here have not independently established what his role was.

In a podcast in July, Souri was asked whether he had lost his Air Force position because of the video. His answer was, "Could be." The video also became entangled in a controversy. In August 2025, the Bangladeshi newspaper Amar Desh reported that an Air Force investigation had found links between people inside the force and India's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, and Souri's name was reportedly among those mentioned. On the podcast, Souri disputed the narrative around that report, calling it "some sort of propaganda," according to bdnews24.

After the Amar Desh report, Bangladesh's Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate issued a rebuttal. It said Souri and another officer had been retired under the Air Force's applicable laws and procedures, in different circumstances, and that the retirements had nothing to do with allegations of ties to a foreign intelligence agency.

Souri's death has also drawn allegations from a relative. His cousin, Moshfeka Jahan, reportedly wrote in a Facebook post that he had suffered mental harassment over the footage and claimed he had been killed. Police findings so far have not established that. The lack of external injury marks does not settle whether the death was accidental or involved a crime.

Police have said the post-mortem will help clarify the circumstances. Until its findings are available, neither the cause of death nor any link between it and the Hasina video can be treated as established.