2 madrasah teachers arrested over student's alleged murder in Dhaka

Two teachers of a madrasah in the capital have been sent to jail in a case over the alleged murder of a 13-year-old student whose body was recovered from the institution in Rayerbagh yesterday (3 August).

The accused are Hafez Md Zakaria, 35, and Hafez Md Zobayer Ahmed, 20, teachers at Rawzatul Ulum Hafizia Nurani madrasah in the Jorakhamba area of Rayerbagh.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Hasibuzzaman passed the order today (4 August) after police produced the two before the court and sought permission to keep them in custody, confirmed Sub-Inspector Abdus Sabur of the prosecution division.

Investigating Officer Sub-Inspector Amzad Hossain of Kadamtali Police Station petitioned the court to send the accused to jail. The court granted the request. No lawyer appeared on behalf of the accused during the hearing.

The body of Md Nayeem Sheikh, 13, was recovered from a third-floor bathroom of the madrasah on 3 August.

Following the incident, Nayeem's mother, Nazma Begum, filed a murder case against the two teachers. Police later arrested them from the madrasah.

According to the case statement, both of Nazma's sons studied at the madrasah, where the accused allegedly subjected Nayeem to repeated abuse. After learning about the alleged mistreatment, she decided to withdraw him from the institution. However, the teachers allegedly refused to issue him a transfer certificate.

The complaint further states that the teachers became angry after Nayeem informed them at around 1pm on 3 August that he no longer wished to continue studying at the madrasah.

They allegedly assaulted him, forcibly restrained him and later strangled him to death sometime between 1pm and 2:30pm, according to the case statement.