14 sued for murder of 2 Madaripur girls

Fourteen people-seven named and as many unnamed- have been sued for the murder of two school girls in Madaripur.

Billal Sikder, father of Sumaiya, one of the victims, filed the case with Madaripur Sadar Police Station this afternoon, said Sub-Inspector Barek Karim Hawlader of the station.

Meanwhile, the bodies were handed over to the families after autopsy, reports a correspondent from Shariatpur.

Earlier yesterday, Sumaiya Akhtar, 15, and Happy Akhtar, 14, two class eight students at Mostafapur Bahumukhi High School, were allegedly killed after rape by their stalkers in Madaripur Sadar upazila.

Ziaul Morshed, officer-in-charge of Madaripur Sadar Police Station, however, told The Daily Star that they could not confirm whether the victims were raped unless they received the autopsy reports.

Two suspects were detained for interrogation. They are Rafiq Sikder, 21, and Shipon Sikder, 18.

According to the victims families, the duo frequently stalked the girls and they raped and killed the victims yesterday, the police officer said around 1:30am today.   

Sumaiya and Happy left their homes at Mostafapur village around 3:00pm yesterday to have tuition at a school.

Around 4:30pm, four youths aged between 18 and 20 brought the girls to Madaripur Sadar Hospital in an unconscious state and claimed the victims had taken poison, said Ziaul.

The youths fled after Happy died around 5:00pm. Sumaiya also breathed her last around an hour later.

Family members, relatives, friends and classmates of the victims rushed to the hospital after hearing the news.

In the evening, Rafiq and Shipon were captured by the hospital authorities when they went to the hospital. Afterwards, they were handed over to the police.

The OC, quoting doctors, said there were signs of poison inside both the victims' mouth.

He said primary interrogations of the detainees suggested that the girls “committed suicide following a feud over a love affair”.

Ziaul said the victims yesterday had a quarrel with one Rana, a student at Nazimuddin College at Madaripur Sadar, over the matter.

Police suspect that at one stage of the quarrel, the girls took poison.

He said they were also investigating the incident keeping in mind the allegation by the family members.

Rana went into hiding after the incident.