The High Court has summoned two investigating officers (IOs) with case documents relating to a schoolgirl who had been presumed abducted, raped and murdered (according to the confessional statements of the accused) but turned out to be alive 51 days after the case was filed at Narayanganj Sadar police station.
The High Court bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman issued the summons after hearing a revision case in this regard on Tuesday.
According to the court order, the first investigation officer will have to appear and submit a written explanation before the court and the new investigation officer will come before it with case documents on September 17.
Adv Mohammad Shishir Monir stood for the revision case.
Md Asad Uddin, a Supreme Court lawyer and one of the writ petitioners, confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune.
Earlier on Tuesday, the revision case was filed with the High Court challenging the accuracy, legality and rationality of the proceedings of the abduction case.
Advocate Shishir filed the case on behalf of five other Supreme Court lawyers -- Md Asad Uddin, Md Zobaidur Rahman, Md Ashraful Islam, Md Al Reza Amir and Md Misbah Uddin.
The magistrate, the superintendent of police, the officer in charge of Narayanganj Sadar Model police station, the investigation officer of the case, the plaintiff Jahangir Hossain (father of the girl) and the three accused -- Abdullah, Rakib and Khalil --- were all made respondents to the revision.
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Following a case filed at Narayanganj Sadar Model police station over the abduction of a teenaged girl, police arrested three suspects and sent them to jail.
The trio made confessional statements to the effect that they had thrown the girl's body in the Shitalakhya river after raping and murdering her.
Meanwhile, the families of the accused alleged that the arrestees had been tortured so much by the police officials of Narayanganj Sadar model police station that they were forced to confess to crimes that they did not commit.
They also claimed that they were forced to cough up at least Tk47,000 as bribes to Narayanganj Sadar model police station SI Shamim Hossain, the former investigation officer (IO) of the abduction case, to ensure the well-being of the suspects.
On Sunday, however, the girl’s safe return home immediately invalidated the confessional statements and raised questions about how the false confessions of the rape and murder had been obtained.
The 15-year old is currently with her family, according to Narayanganj Sadar police.
Suspended policeman tries to return bribe
The family of the accused alleged that they had been offered back by SI Shamim the money they previously had been compelled to give him as a bribe.
“Sub-Inspector Shamim Al Mamun of Narayanganj Sadar police station, the former investigation officer of the case, has tried to return the money he took from us forcibly,” claimed Amjad Hossain and Sharmin, both plaintiffs in the case, on Thursday.
However, Shamim has been closed and attached to the district police lines on Wednesday, confirmed police sources.
Sharmin Begum, wife of Khalil, one of the persons falsely accused in the girl’s disappearance case, claimed that SI Shamim had demanded that the family pay him Tk7,000, failing which he would torture her husband to death in police custody.
She said: “However, as the investigation against him is on, he returned Tk6,000 to my brother and also issued a threat that my family should not go ahead with the case.”
“He also told me if I revealed the issue of the money or the incident, my husband might never get released from jail,” said Sharmin.
Agreeing with her, Amjad Hossain, said: “Shamim repeatedly tried to return the bribe he took earlier from me. I do not want my money back. I want justice for my innocent boy.”
Asked about the incident, Md Asaduzzaman, officer-in-charge of Sadar police station, said: “We cannot comment in this regard as it is a personal matter of the former IO. If we receive any complaint we will surely take legal action against him.”
Sub-inspector (SI) Shamim Al Mamun has been closed after allegations were made that he had tortured the accused in remand and forced them to make confessional statements in court on Wednesday, confirmed the district’s Superintendent of Police Jayedul Alam.
ASP (DB) Jayed Parvej Chowdhury, head of the three member probe committee, said: “Now we want to make the schoolgirl face the three accused and confirm some issues. There are four charges against the accused that include kidnapping, rape after kidnapping, murder and missing body after murder.”
“Now the kidnapping charge won’t be dropped even if the three other charges are dropped as the girl is still a minor. They called her out, which is kidnapping according to law,” Jayed Parvej Chowdhury added.
On the other hand, ASP (Crime) ATM Mosharof Hossain said: “The investigation is still ongoing. We cannot say anything for sure. We have to know the truth and only then will we be able to say what happened exactly.”
Court issues show cause notice
Meanwhile, a Narayanganj court issued a show cause notice on the investigation officer and the officer in-charge of Narayanganj Sadar model police station.
Narayanganj Senior Judicial Magistrate Kauser Alam passed the order on Thursday.
Also Read - Girl, presumed raped and killed, rescued alive after a month
At the same time, the court fixed August 31 for the remand hearing of the arrested schoolgirl's husband Iqbal and the bail hearing of the other three accused, Narayanganj Court Police Inspector Asaduzzaman confirmed.
The court issued the show cause notice to find out why the three accused in the case had made confessional statements. The court also asked why the police officials did not process the documents after rescuing alive the girl, who was presumed dead.
The story behind the story
According to media reports, on August 23, Iqbal Pandit, a man in a relationship with the girl called her family and informed them that she was alive and was with him. Iqbal also asked for some money from the girl’s parents to pay his rent. He, along with the schoolgirl, was detained shortly after by the police.
After being questioned by the police, the girl said she had taken off with her then boyfriend Iqbal to marry him and had remained absconding since then.
Shortly after her statement was recorded, Iqbal was sent to jail.
The prime suspect in the abduction case, Abdullah, with whom she was last seen on July 4, had, however, no knowledge of her intentions on the day, proving him innocent along with the two other suspects.
Also Read - Teenager raped, murdered in Narayanganj
Following the arrests of Abdullah, Rakib and Khalil in connection with her disappearance, Narayanganj Sadar Model police station Sub-Inspector (SI) Shamim Al Mamun, the former IO of the abduction case, said the girl had been murdered and her body dumped into the Shitalakshya River.
"We located Rakib (autorickshaw driver) after finding his number from the call list on the girl's mother’s phone. Abdullah used to contact the girl through Rakib's phone," he said.
At that time, SI Shamim said: “On the afternoon of July 4, the schoolgirl and Abdullah went on a tour in Rakib's auto-rickshaw of different parts of Bandar upazila. In the evening they hired a boat from the number five ghat of the dock and the girl was raped on the vessel by Abdullah and the boatman Khalilur.”
“When the girl threatened the men that she would make a complaint regarding her rape, Abdullah and Khalilur strangled her to death and dumped her body in the Shitalakshya River around 9pm,” added the SI.