Lohagara boy’s leg amputated after train accident, police find no criminal gang link
Police records contained no evidence that a gang abducted him and deliberately cut off his leg.
A 12-year-old boy from Chunati Union in Lohagara upazila of Chattogram returned home on 13 September, seven months after he went missing, with his right leg amputated.
Rayhan had claimed that a gang in Dhaka amputated his leg to force him into begging, a claim that was widely circulated in the media and on social media.
However, a The Business Standard investigation found that Rayhan lost his right leg in a train accident on 11 June and doctors amputated it on 2 July following a medical board's decision.
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Police records contained no evidence that a gang abducted him and deliberately cut off his leg.
In a press release issued this morning (17 September), Dhaka Railway Police said Rayhan's ultrasonography report showed that both kidneys were present and normal. The doctor concerned also confirmed the finding.
Police said claims that Rayhan had been forced into begging after his leg was cut off were circulated on social media and in various media outlets, but a review of medical records and statements from relevant people found no evidence supporting them.
Police said they were taking necessary steps to safely return Rayhan to his family after contacting them. They are also verifying the role of people associated with the child and information circulated through various platforms.
Similarly, a medical ultrasonography report obtained by TBS found no evidence supporting claims that one of Rayhan's kidneys had been stolen.
Local residents spotted Rayhan at a religious gathering in Chunati early Sunday. After being informed, his father went there and identified him.
Rayhan, a resident of Chunati Union, had been studying in the hifz section of a local madrasah.
Rayhan's father, Nazim Uddin, is a day labourer. His parents divorced several years ago, and he had been living with his stepmother.
According to his father, Rayhan left home on 9 February with only Tk100 and never returned. No general diary (GD) was filed with the police over his disappearance.
Mohammad Abdullah, officer-in-charge of Lohagara Police Station, told The Business Standard that police were unaware of Rayhan's disappearance as no GD had been filed.
According to Rayhan, after leaving home on 9 February, he travelled to Amirabad in Lohagara on a truck used for election campaigning.
He later went to Cox's Bazar beach on the same truck, where he asked tourists for money and earned by giving body massages. He said he used the money to buy food and slept on the beach at night.
He stayed there for about two months before a man offered him more money and took him to Dhaka.
Rayhan claimed that in Dhaka, he stayed in a room near a railway station under the supervision of a woman named Meena, also known as Salma. He said he sold water and juice around Kamalapur Railway Station in exchange for three meals a day.
About a month later, he said, he woke up in a hospital to find his right leg amputated. He was told his leg had been severed after being hit by a train, he claimed.
After recovering, Rayhan said he was taken to Kamalapur Railway Station in a wheelchair and forced to beg, with a gang taking the money he collected.
He also claimed that 10-15 other children were there, some of whom had also lost limbs and were being used for begging.
However, according to Dhaka Railway Police, Rayhan was injured in a train accident on 11 June. Police on patrol under Cantonment Police Station found him injured and informed railway police, who took him to Kurmitola General Hospital.
A medical advice sheet obtained by TBS records Rayhan's admission to Kurmitola General Hospital on 11 June.
His condition deteriorated that same day, and railway police constable Riaz then took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
From there, he was transferred to the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR).
Railway police said they arranged blood, medicines and necessary medical tests for Rayhan. Doctors monitored his right leg during treatment and, following a medical board's decision, amputated it on 2 July.
Documents obtained by TBS show that Rayhan was taken to hospital after being injured on 11 June and underwent the amputation after nearly three weeks of treatment.
Photographs obtained by TBS also show Rayhan being taken to hospital by ambulance after the accident and receiving treatment, with his injured right leg wrapped in a bloodstained bandage.
Police said the Department of Social Services assigned 70-year-old Alesha Begum, an aide at NITOR, to care for Rayhan. She stayed with him at the hospital for around one and a half months.
According to police, Rayhan had been staying with a woman known as 'Malir Ma', also known as Jharna, and selling water around the station area before the 11 June accident. After recovering and being discharged, he continued to stay with Jharna and later took up begging.
Rayhan claimed that Meena, also known as Salma, gave him Tk3,500 and put him on a bus to Cox's Bazar, from where he travelled to Chunati.
However, police said Rayhan wanted to return home on 12 September after learning of his mother's death. A friend of his age, Zakir, helped him board a vehicle, from where he began his journey home.
Police also said they found no information linking the woman identified on social media as Meena, or Salma, to Rayhan's alleged trafficking or amputation.
Zainal Abedin, officer-in-charge of Dhaka Railway Police Station, told TBS that several media outlets had widely reported claims of a trafficking or criminal gang based on statements from Rayhan and his father.
He said such reports were misleading the public.
Police said Rayhan had come to Dhaka around seven to eight months ago following a family dispute and had been staying around Kamalapur Railway Station. He regularly attended a street children's school run by LEEDO NGO at the city platform area and had lunch there.
According to police, after completing treatment, Rayhan again stayed in the city platform area of Kamalapur Railway Station.
Police said they were taking necessary steps to safely return Rayhan to his family after contacting them. The role of people associated with the child and information circulated through various platforms are also being verified.
