A Dhaka tour operator was on Wednesday sentenced to death in absentia for raping and killing a teenage girl and then cutting her body into 26 pieces in a futile attempt to cover up his crime.
Md Saiduzzaman Bachchu, the 30-year-old owner of Sonali Tours and Travels based at Nahar Plaza in Hatirpool area of Dhaka, began his pursuit of Roksana Akter Rumi in 2010.
On June 1, 2012, he managed to lure the girl to his office on level 12 of the plaza, where he raped and killed her before dismembering her body and throwing the pieces from the office windows.
Locals locked Bachchu, who hails from Faridpur, in his office a day later and handed him over to Shahbagh police when the strewn body parts were recovered from an alley beside Nahar Plaza and from the roof of a nearby building.
Md Abdus Samad, then sub-inspector of Shahbagh police station, filed a case against Bachchu under Section 9(2) of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act.
The charge sheet was submitted on September 1, 2012 and the court framed charges against the accused on May 20, 2013.
Dhaka Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal 3 Judge Joyshree Samaddar delivered the verdict on Wednesday in the absence of the convict. The court also fined him Tk1 lakh.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
