Two different Shihabs falsely presented as same person
A photocard was posted on Facebook bearing the logo of Samakal featuring photos of two teenagers. It claims that Shihab, a Chhatra League activist, scored Golden GPA-5 in the SSC examination but he had been killed two days before the results were published. However, Dismislab’s fact-check found that although the names of the two teenagers are similar, they are actually different people.
The photocard was posted in a Facebook group on August 13. The Samakal logo appears at the top of the card. It combines a photo of a hanging person’s body with a black-and-white photo of a teenager. The text above the photo reads, “Chhatra League’s Shihab,” while the headline on the card says, “SSC results published two days after death, Shihab gets Golden GPA-5.” The post description reads, “SSC results published just two days after the killing of that Chhatra League Shihab. He passed with a GPA-5.”
The photocard was also posted from two other Facebook groups (1, 2) with the same claim.
To verify the incident, Dismislab conducted a reverse image search using screenshots of the two photos on the photocard. The search led to a photocard published on August 10 on Samakal’s verified Facebook page, along with a related report. The black-and-white photo used on the photocard exactly matches the photo circulated in the post claiming that the teenager was a Chhatra League activist.
The headline on the photocard read, “SSC results two days after death, Shihab gets Golden GPA-5.”
The detailed report said Shihab had gone to his village home in Cumilla with family members on August 6 to attend his uncle’s wedding. On August 8, after taking a shower, Shihab went to the roof of the house to dry clothes. He died after being electrocuted by wires carrying coloured lights installed for the wedding decorations.
Shihab took the SSC examination this year from Airport Government High School located in Dhaka and passed with a GPA-5. No information about Shihab’s political involvement could be found.
Meanwhile, reports published by several media outlets (1, 2, 3, 4) on August 9 said police recovered the hanging body of a 15-year-old teenager named Sihab Hossain from a Shaheed Minar in the Jagir area of Manikganj Sadar upazila. He worked at a fish trader’s shop at Manikganj bus stand fish market.
After Sihab’s body was recovered, several photos of his hanging body and symbolic images circulated on social media with conflicting claims (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
One post description read, “Jamaat-BNP terrorists hung Chhatra League activist Shihab at the Shaheed Minar after killing him.” Another post description read, “League terrorists abducted and killed teenager Sihab in Manikganj and hung him at the Shaheed Minar because he left Chhatra League and took part in the July uprising. Meanwhile, League terrorists continue to threaten students who resigned from Chhatra League during the movement with genocide.”
However, according to an investigative report by a digital investigative organisation The Dissent on the incident, Sihab had no affiliation with any political party. After studying up to Class Nine, he had worked at a fish shop for about a year. His family, friends and the manager of his workplace told The Dissent that Sihab had no affiliation with any political party.
A report by Daily Star Bangla states that Sihab had been missing since the night of August 8. Around 7am the next morning, locals found the teenager’s body hanging by his neck at a Shaheed Minar beside a field in the Jagir area of Sadar upazila. Police recovered the body from the scene after receiving the information. Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Monir Hossain said he may have died by suicide out of frustration over not receiving money from his mother to see the traditional “nouka baich” (boat race). He also said police had filed an unnatural death case. The body was sent to the morgue at Manikganj Medical College Hospital for an autopsy. The matter will become clearer after the investigation.
Therefore, a false claim has been circulated through a fake photocard carrying the Samakal logo, using photos of two different teenagers, that Shihab, who allegedly was killed because of his involvement with Chhatra League, scored Golden GPA-5. In reality, the two were different people. The Sihab whose hanging body was found at the Shaheed Minar did not sit for the SSC examination.
(All social media captions, quotations, and news excerpts in this article have been translated into English from the languages in which they were originally posted or published.)
