A seven-year-old child has been murdered by unidentified kidnappers in Gabtoli upazila of Bogra, after his parents failed to pay a Tk3 lakh ransom.
The kidnappers contacted the parents by phone on Thursday evening and gave them the location of the body, Gabtoli police station Officer-in-Charge Nuruzzaman Raju said.
The victim’s father filed a murder case with the police station on Friday, he added.
The child’s body was found drowned in a pond close to the family’s house in Nishupara village at Rameshpur union of the upazila. His arms and legs were tied up and his mouth was gagged.
The body has been sent to the Bogra Shajimek Hospital morgue for autopsy, the OC further said.
Deceased Hanjala is the son of Pintu Mia, a Bangladeshi expatriate working in Malaysia. The child, a student of Battala Hafezi Madrasa, went missing while playing with his friends in the afternoon on December 13.
Subsequently, the kidnappers contacted mother Taslima Begum by phone with their ransom demands.
After receiving news of the abduction, Pintu Mia immediately returned to Bangladesh and the parents took the phone number used by the kidnappers to Gabtoli police station. They claim police were of little assistance and did not cooperate.
About 40 days later, on Thursday, the kidnappers called Taslima once again to inform her that they had murdered the child as the ransom had not been paid. They told her that they had thrown her son in the pond after wrapping him in polythene and tying bricks to his feet.
OC Nuruzzaman Raju said an investigation is underway to identify and arrest those involved in the abduction and murder of the child.
He also said significant effort had been put in to rescue the child, to no avail.
“The phone number that the kidnappers originally used was switched off. The kidnapper claimed to be a Sub-Inspector Faruque, but there is no such SI,” he added.
Residents of Nishupara village have demanded the immediate arrest of the murderers and exemplary punishment.
