Wikipedia gives 12 estimates for the death toll, ranging from 26,000 to 3 million. Why are these numbers so drastically different? Why are we so unsure about the exact number of people killed?
As a follow up: It seems like the Bangladesh genocide gets very little attention or recognition today, even though it is historically important because of its context in post-colonialism. I come from a Bengali family and some of my relatives have not even heard of it. Could these shoddy numbers be part of the reason why?
You are asking why the wiki is bananas right. Answer: well, because it's the wiki. Everybody can write whatever he likes. And the Bengali genocide is one of those contentious issues:
The PAK side engages in genocide denial now and the Americans engaged in genocide denial while the genocide was being conducted (so hard they removed their ambassador Archer Blood for as little as reporting the massacres to his superiors) so outside the academia the war is fought out by the different brands of arm chair warriors from half the world.
To see the current consensus amongst academics you're better off picking up something like the History of Bengladesh by Cambridge University Press.