Neighbour arrested after CCTV shows he took 8-year-old into Ctg ecopark
Accused confessed to police during interrogation
Police have arrested the main suspect in connection with the killing of Jannatul Nisha Ira, an eight-year-old girl who died after being found critically injured in a remote hilly area of Chattogram's Sitakunda, after CCTV footage revealed her abduction.
The accused, Babu Sheikh, also known as Mahbub Alam, 45, a neighbour of the victim, was taken into custody today (3 March), confirmed Chattogram's Additional Superintendent of Police (Industrial Zone and DB) Md Russell.
At a press briefing this evening, District Superintendent of Police Md Nazir Ahmed Khan said investigators collected CCTV footage from the route between Kumira and Sitakunda hills.
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One clip shows Babu taking the girl by the hand into the Botanical Garden and Eco-Park of Sitakunda. Based on this evidence, he was arrested from Kumira Kazipara.
SP Nazir said Babu confessed to the crime during interrogation. Following his statement, authorities recovered a blood-stained trouser and other evidence from the scene.
Police noted that Babu had a long-standing family dispute with the victim's father, Monir Hossain. Investigators said he planned to harm the child, luring her from home on Sunday morning with chocolates, then taking her by bus from Kumira to Sitakunda.
According to police, the child screamed when Mahbub attempted to assault her. He then slit her throat and left her on a hillside, fleeing the scene.
She later crawled to the side of a nearby road under construction, where workers rescued her and alerted authorities.
The child's mother had filed a case under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act on Sunday night, which police are now converting into a murder case. The matter of attempted sexual assault is being confirmed through forensic analysis. Authorities are also investigating whether others were involved.
Initially, police had identified the girl as seven years old and reported that she had been assaulted. After being rescued, she was taken to Sitakunda Upazila Health Complex for primary treatment and then admitted to Chattogram Medical College Hospital.
She underwent surgery in the Ear, Nose, and Throat department the same night and was later placed in the hospital's One-Stop Crisis Cell (OCC) for observation.
Despite appearing stable and communicating through gestures until Monday night, the child's condition worsened, and she passed away around 4:30am today in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Chattogram Medical College Hospital.
