Local people watch the recovery of the bodies of four children at Bahubal in Habiganj on Wednesday, five days after they had gone missing.
Bodies of four boys who went missing on Friday were found dumped on a river bank at their village at Bahubal upazila in Habiganj on Wednesday.
Physicians suspected that Zakaria Ahmed Shubha, 8, his two cousins — Tazel Miah, 10, Monir Miah, 7, –– and their relative Ismail Hossain, 10, were strangled.
Monir, Shubha and Tazel were students of Classe I, II and III respectively of Sundratiki Government Primary School and Ismail was student of Sundratiki Madrassah.
Bahubal police officer-in-charge Mosharraf Hossain said the bodies were found covered with sand pile on the bank of Kamaichhara River near Sundratiki village at Bahubal upazila.
He said that they arrested Abdul Ali and his son Jewel on suspicion in this connection. He, however, did not disclose the motive behind the killings.
‘We are interrogating them [Ali and his son Jewel] and it is in primary stage,’ Mosharraf said.
Police officials said that the four children went out for playing football on a nearby ground on Friday afternoon.
The parents had used public announcement system in the area on Friday night and Shubha’s father Wahid Miah lodged a general diary with the police on Saturday noon as the whereabouts of the boys remained unknown.
On Wednesday morning, locals saw human parts of two victims on the river bank and informed the police.
Police and physicians said that no mark of injury was seen in the bodies, though the bodies were swollen.
Post-mortem examinations were done at the district government hospital.
‘They were strangled at least two days ago,’ said Habiganj civil surgeon Depapada Roy.
‘The motive behind the killing could not be established immediately,’ Bahubal police inspector (investigation) Abdur Rahman said.
The families and local leaders suspected that the killings took place following sequel of enmities.
Monir’s father Abdal Miah accused his neighbour Abdul Hai and his associates of the killings as they had quarrelled over felling a tree.
Local union council chairman Mottasir Miah said that there was an enmity between the family of Wahid Miah and several other families over different issues including establishing supremacy at the village.
‘The killing incident might have taken place following a previous enmity,’ Mottasir said.
Sylhet range deputy inspector general of police Mizanur Rahman while visiting the area announced a bounty of Tk 1 lakh for assisting police with information of the killers.
In a similar incident, the police in Dhaka recovered the body of 11-year-old Abdullah, son of Badal Hossain, an expatriate living in Kuwait, from a house at Keraniganj on February 2, four days after he was kidnapped reportedly by relatives.
Bangladesh Shishu Odhikar Forum, an organisation working for child rights, stated that 1,085 children were killed in the past four years. A significant number of them were initially kidnapped and later were found dead.
In 2014, at least 52 children were killed after abduction while the number was reported only 10 in 2015.
Apart from killings, many children were raped while many others were tortured. Many children were tortured over trifling matters.
Nearly six months after the brutal killings of Rajon in Sylhet and Rakib Khulna, two teenagers were reported to be brutally tortured on suspicion of stealing a mobile phone in Rajshahi on February 13.
Source: New Age