In a heinous act of crime, a five-year-old boy was brutally murdered by his own relatives on Monday in Sunamganj’s Derai upazila.
The murder, which drew condemnation from people across the country on social media, took place in the early hours in the Kejaura village under the upazila’s Rajanagar union, according to locals and police.
The deceased was identified as Tuhin Hasan, son of Abdul Basir, a farmer, and Monira Begum.
The murderers had left the child’s body hanging from a tree near the family’s house, after stabbing him, slitting his throat, and cutting off his ears and genitals. The killers also left two knives they used to kill him jammed in his abdomen.
Police later in the afternoon detained seven people, mostly family members, for questioning.
At a press conference in the evening, the district’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Mizanur Rahman said that they found the involvement of several family members in the murder.
He, however, declined to disclose the details for the sake of the investigation.
Tuhin’s mutilated body covered in blood was found by the child’s father a little after 3am, and recovered by the police later in the morning, said Derai police station's Acting OC Abu Taher Molla.
"We recovered the dead body after we were notified about the incident. Members of police's Detective Branch also went to the crime scene,” he said.
He added that the child’s body was later sent to Sunamganj Sadar Hospital for an autopsy after police prepared an inquest report.
The news of the murder and photos of Tuhin’s dead body soon went viral on social media, drawing condemnation from the netizens.
Many also questioned the sanity and humanity of those who killed the five-year-old, and demanded immediate arrest and the maximum punishment for them.
Taken from the bed?
According to the family, Tuhin, his siblings and their parents had gone to sleep after dinner on Sunday night like any other night.
Tuhin was sleeping with his parents on the same bed in their home at Kejaura village. His father Basir found Tuhin missing and the main door of the house open in the early hours, when he got up to go to the toilet.
Hearing his cry for help, other family members and neighbours joined the search for Tuhin.
The child’s body was found hanging from a burflower tree (Kadam tree) near a mosque, adjacent to the house, around an hour later.
Family members alleged that the killers had taken a sleeping Tuhin from the house.
‘Relatives involved’
Briefing the media at Derai police station around 7pm, Sunamganj SP Mizanur Rahman said they had detained seven people for questioning earlier in the day.
The detainees include Tuhin’s father Basir, uncles Abdul Mosabbir and Nasir Uddin, aunt Khairunnesa, cousin Tania Begum and neighbour Azizul Islam.
“During interrogation, we found involvement of two to three of them in the murder. These people have also confessed to their involvement to police,” said Mizanur.
He said that Basir and several other members of the family were accused in different cases and had many rivals in the village.
“Tuhin may have been murdered over old rivalry, or revenge, or in an attempt to frame rivals over bad blood. This murder may also have taken place over the cases.
“We have unearthed much information regarding the killing, but can’t disclose all the details right now,” SP Mizanur added, and declined to name the child’s murderers.
He said they were still interrogating the detainees. “A case over the murder will be filed after we are done questioning the suspects.”
Dhaka Tribune’s Tanjir Rahman contributed to this report
