Japanese national Kunio Hoshi who was shot dead in Rangpur on October 3 was buried at a graveyard in Rangpur early yesterday.

He was buried at Munshipara graveyard in Rangpur city around 4:30am, Priyosindhu Talukder, additional district magistrate, told reporters.

Hoshi was buried as per the instruction from the higher authorities, he added.

A team of Japanese embassy officials, representatives of the district police led by Rangpur Additional Police Superintendent Joynal Abedin, representative of Rangpur City Corporation (RCC) mayor, among others, were present during the burial.

Talukder said Kunio was converted to Islam and given the name Golam Mohammad Kibria. He was buried according to Islamic rituals.

Hoshi's body, which was kept at the mortuary of Rangpur Medical College (RMC), was handed over to the officials of Japanese embassy around 2:30am.

His namaz-e-janaza was held on the RMC premises. Prayers were also offered at the graveyard after the completion of the burial, he added.

Talukder, however, declined to comment on why such secrecy was maintained throughout the burial process.

RCC Mayor Sharfuddin Ahmed confirmed that Hoshi was converted to Islam.

Around 2:30am yesterday, the district administration sought the city corporation's consent for the burial and they gave the confirmation as per the documents they so far received, he added.

RCC Ward-18 Councillor Nizamul Hasan Badal, who was present at the burial, said that as per the direction of the mayor, he attended the burial as a city corporation representative.

He said the body was brought to the graveyard in an ambulance around 3:30am.

Around 50 people were present at the burial of Hoshi. Of them, 10 to 12 members were Japanese nationals, he said, adding that security was beefed up in and around the graveyard during the burial.

Badal said he handed Hoshi's death certificate over to Mamun-ur-Rashid, investigation officer of the case, around 5:00pm.

Rangpur Police Lines Jame Masjid Imam Muntasir Ahamed conducted Hoshi's namaz-e-janaza, a source who was present at the burial told The Daily Star, seeking anonymity.

Contacted, Muntasir refused to comment anything in this regard.

Meanwhile, a plainclothes police team picked up Sultana Khatun, wife of Humayun Kabir Hira, around 10:30pm Monday, Hira's mother Hasina Begum claimed.

She said the team also seized Hira's laptop, camera and Sultana's mobile phone from the house.

She said she had no idea about her daughter-in-law's whereabouts.

Contacted, Kaunia Police Station Officer-in-charge Reazul Karim said he did not know of any such detention.

Kunio Hoshi, 66, was shot dead by three men riding on a motorbike at Alutila village in Kaunia upazila on the morning of October 3.

On October 6, a Rangpur court placed Rashed-un-Nabi Khan Biplob, a member of BNP's Rangpur city unit, and Humayun Kabir Hira, a friend of Hoshi, on 10-day remand.

After three days, the same court cancelled the remand of Biplob and sent him to jail.

Police on October 10 also released two private bank officials, who were detained in Rajshahi the previous day, after questioning them over the murder.