N’ganj girl’s disappearance: SI closed for ‘torturing’ accused

Sub-inspector (SI) Shamim Al Mamun -- the investigation officer (IO) of the abduction case of a girl who was thought to have been raped and murdered before being found alive 51 days after her disappearance from Narayanganj's Bandar upazila -- has been closed in the wake of allegations that he tortured the accused in remand and forced them to give a confessional statement in court.

Shamim, who was stationed with the Narayanganj Sadar Police Station, is now attached at the city's Masdah Police Line as per the order of the District Superintendent of Police (SP) Jayedul Alam, our local correspondent reported quoting the SP.

SP Jayedul told The Daily Star that SI Shamim was closed for fair investigation as a probe is underway against him.

Meanwhile, Abdul Hai, inspector (operation) of Narayanganj Sadar Police Station, was made the new IO of the case.

SP Jayedul, however, said they need time to complete the investigation.

Amjat Hossain, father of Md Abdullah, one of the accused in the case, said a conspiracy was hatched to implicate his son and two others in a false case.

He demanded that the mastermind of the incident be identified.

On August 25, the father of the girl sought the release of the three accused persons who are in jail in connection with an abduction case filed over his daughter's disappearance, as he got his daughter back alive the previous day.

Addressing a press briefing on that day, Narayanganj Additional Superintendent of Police (administration) Mostafizur Rahman said, "Today, we know that the girl was not raped. The girl met one of the three accused on the day of the incident. Later in the night, she fled with a man named Iqbal," the police official said, adding the two got married and began living in a rented house in Bandar Kushiyara area.

The husband was arrested for marrying an underage girl, police said.

The family members of the accused have been claiming that police had beaten their sons in remand and forced them to make their confessional statement. Police, however, denied the allegation.

About two weeks after her disappearance on July 4, her mother lodged a general diary (GD) with the Narayanganj Sadar Model Police Station on July 17.

On August 6, her father filed an abduction case with the police station. Later, the police arrested three youths after tracking the call list of the girl's mother.

On August 9, the accused testified under Section 164 in separate courts of Narayanganj Senior Judicial Magistrate and Judicial Magistrate. In their confessional statement, the accused said that they had killed the girl after raping her and threw her body in the Shitalakkhya river, said police.

After their confessional statement, the accused were sent to jail. Since then, the trio -- Md Abdullah, 22, Md Rakib, 19, and Khalilur Rahman, 36, -- have been in jail.

The girl later called her mother asking for money. That is when police were alerted and they went and found the girl.