Child killed in Pallabi, body mutilated to conceal crime: DMP

Police have arrested a neighbouring couple in connection with the murder of a seven-year-old girl, whose decapitated body was recovered from a flat in Dhaka's Pallabi area yesterday (19 May). 

According to police, the child, Ramisa Akter, was allegedly killed and her head severed in an attempt to conceal the body after a suspected sexual assault.

The arrested are the prime accused, Sohel Rana, 30, and his wife Swapna Khatun, 26.

Speaking at a briefing at Pallabi Police Station last night, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operations) SN Nazrul Islam said Swapna was detained from the flat shortly after the incident, while Sohel was arrested around seven hours later from Fatullah in Narayanganj with the help of information technology.

Earlier in the morning, police recovered the child's headless body from a third-floor flat of a five-storey building adjacent to Millat Camp in Pallabi Section 11.

The victim's family lived in the neighbouring flat.

Describing the sequence of events, Nazrul Islam said, "The girl's school was supposed to start between 10:30am and 11am. Around 10:30am, her mother began looking for her before school and noticed one of the child's shoes lying outside the door. She then knocked on the neighbouring flat, but the door was locked from inside."

"When the mother became suspicious and started screaming, locals gathered and tried to open the door. At one stage, they managed to enter and found that the prime accused had escaped by cutting through the window grill, while his wife Swapna was still inside the room," he added.

The DMP official said police suspect that "some kind of illegal act" may have taken place in the bathroom involving the child.

"We have collected evidence and sent it to the CID. The investigation may later reveal whether any sexual act took place," he said.

Nazrul Islam further said, "Our initial assumption is that the girl may have been sexually assaulted. When there was perhaps bleeding or fear that the incident would be discovered, he killed her and planned to dispose of the body. He likely severed the head to hide the body and also tried to cut the hands into pieces."

"But before he could fully carry out the plan, the girl's mother started banging on the door, forcing the accused to flee by cutting through the grill," he added.

Police said Sohel Rana has a previous case filed against him under the Anti-Terrorism Act in Natore.

Referring to statements made by the accused's wife, Nazrul Islam said, "From what we gathered from his wife, he appears to be a perverted individual with distorted sexual tendencies. He also tortured his wife in various ways."

When asked what the wife had said about the rape allegation, the DMP official said she had initially denied any knowledge of the incident.

"She claimed she had taken sleeping pills and was asleep. She said she did not know whether the incident occurred in the bathroom," he added.