Police have said that the killing of a teenage girl in Narsingdi, initially believed to be linked to an abduction following demands for justice over a gang rape, was in fact staged by her stepfather after he murdered her.
Police arrested the stepfather, Ashraf Ali, in connection with the incident. He later confessed to the murder and gave a statement under Section 164 before a court.
District Superintendent of Police Md Abdullah Al Faruk disclosed the information at a press briefing at his office around 2:30pm on Saturday.
According to the SP, the stepfather admitted in his confessional statement that he committed the murder alone after becoming frustrated with the girl's behaviour and feeling socially humiliated on several occasions. He then staged the incident as an abduction in an attempt to shift the blame onto others.
The body of the 15-year-old girl was recovered on February 26 from a mustard field between Bilpar and Dorikandi in Mahishashura union of Sadar upazila.
At the time, allegations had emerged that the girl had been abducted from her father and murdered for demanding justice over her gang rape.
That night, a case was filed with Madhabdi Police Station naming nine people as accused, along with two to three unidentified individuals. So far, eight suspects have been arrested.
At the briefing, the police superintendent said the girl had been in a relationship with the main accused in the case, Nur Mohammad, also known as Nura.
He said the girl was allegedly gang-raped at the house of accused Hazrat Ali about 10–12 days before the murder. The girl and her family had sought justice from former union parishad member and BNP leader Ahmed Ali Dewan over the incident.
Police later launched an operation to arrest the suspects after the case was filed.
The SP said police arrested eight of the named accused, including Nur Mohammad. A court granted eight days' remand for each of them.
During interrogation, police obtained detailed information regarding the alleged rape but found no evidence linking the suspects to the murder.
On Friday, police detained the girl's stepfather Ashraf Ali for questioning. During interrogation, he eventually confessed to the killing. He was later shown arrested in the case and produced before a court on Saturday, where he gave a confessional statement under Section 164.
Quoting the stepfather's statement, the SP said that on the night of the incident, Ashraf Ali was taking the girl to a colleague’s house as part of a pre-planned move.
While passing a deserted mustard field, he wrapped the girl’s scarf around her neck from behind and strangled her to death. He then left the body in the field, returned home and went to sleep before staging the abduction story.
The police chief said nine suspects have so far been arrested in the case. Among them, one has been charged with murder, four with rape and five with involvement in an illegal arbitration.
He added that stepfather Ashraf Ali, Nur Mohammad (Nura) and Hazrat Ali have all confessed to their roles before the court.
Apart from Ashraf Ali (40), the other arrested accused are Nur Mohammad alias Nura (28), Ebadullah (40), Hazrat Ali (40), Md Gaffar (37), Ahmed Ali Dewan (65), Imran Dewan (32), Ishaq alias Isha (40) and Md Ayub (30).
Another accused, Abu Taher, is still at large.
Among the arrested, Ahmed Ali Dewan is the recently expelled vice-president of the union BNP and a former member of the Mahishashura Union Parishad.
