A student named Mahi Umme Tabachum (8), who came to Tafsirul Quran Mahfil in Bogra's Dhunat Upazila on December 14, was strangled to death after being gang-raped at a local college ground for showing greed to buy chocolates. After arresting the four accused involved in the incident, they confessed to the police during the interrogation that they had committed organized rape and murder. Bogra Superintendent of Police Ali Ashraf Bhuiyan said this at a press conference on Saturday afternoon.
The deceased was identified as Mahi Umme Tabachum, daughter of Belal Hossain Khokon of Nasratpur village in Dhunat upazila and a second class student of local Panchthupi-Nasratpur Government Primary School.
The arrested are Bappi Ahmed, 22, son of Tozammel Haque of Nasratpur village under Chowkibari union of Dhunat upazila, Kamal Pasha, 34, son of Dalil Uddin Talukder, Shamim Reza, 22, son of Sanwar Hossain and Lablu Sheikh, 21, son of Saheb Ali.
Among those arrested about five years ago was Belal Hossain Khokon, the father of Tabachum, who tried to molest Bappi Ahmed's own sister and cousin, police said. At that time these incidents were resolved locally. But since then, the intoxication of revenge has been sitting on Bappi's head. As planned, Bappi and his associates took Tabachum to the nearby Haji Kazem Jobeda Technical College ground on December 14, showing greed to buy chocolates at the Waz Mahfil ceremony area. There, after the gang-rape, they suffocated Tabachum, cut off his fingers and toes, and left his naked body in a bamboo bush.
According to the case filed in the incident, the locals organized a two-day Tafsirul Quran mahfil in Nasratpur village of Dhunat upazila. On the first day, on the night of December 14, Tabachum went to the Tafsir Mahfil with his grandparents. At around 10 pm, the child went out of the stage to buy chips with 10 rupees from his grandfather and went missing. After much searching, the body of the child was found naked inside a bamboo bush about 200 meters away from the place of Tafsir mahfil at around 1 am. Her clothes were lying next to the body of the schoolgirl. Belal Hossain Khokon, father of Tabachum, who was killed in the incident on December 15, filed a murder case with Dhunat police station. But the name of any accused was not mentioned in that case.
Additional Superintendent of Police Gaziur Rahman of Dhunat-Sherpur Circle said there was no clue to the murder. At one stage, under the direction of the police super, multiple tactics were used to unravel the mystery of the murder and find the killers. Bappi Ahmed, Kamal Pasha, Shamim Reza and Lablu were arrested from Nasratpur village on Friday night. During interrogation, they confessed to killing Tabachum after the gang-rape. He said the accused have been handed over to the court and remanded.
