Rape, Murder of O-Level Student in Dhaka: No progress in probe in six months

Investigation into the rape and murder of an O-level student in Dhaka’s Kalabagan is yet to be completed even over six months after the incident that sparked a huge public outcry.

The investigators said they have not got the victim’s post-mortem and DNA reports, two crucial elements of the case, as of now. They could not say for sure how long it will take to complete the probe.

Present Investigation Officer (IO) of the case and PBI Inspector Khaled Saifullah appealed to a Dhaka court on Sunday seeking a remand for lone accused Fardin Iftekhar Dihan for interrogation.

The court did not grant the remand as the accused has already made confessional statement. It, however, asked the IO to interrogate the accused at the jail gate. “We will interrogate the accused shortly as per the court directive in a suitable time,” the IO told The Daily Star.

He also said they have already communicated with the DNA lab of Criminal Investigation Department for the complete DNA report and Dhaka Medical College for post-mortem report.

“I hope it will not take much time to receive those,” he added.

Inspector Khaled said they have received a part of the DNA report. He said they are trying to complete the investigation as soon as possible.

“After receiving the post-mortem and other forensic reports we have some procedures to complete…,” he said.

Father of the victim recently told The Daily Star that though six months have elapsed since the incident, they are happy as the charge of investigation was given to PBI.

“We always wanted an extensive investigation. We strongly believe that at least three people were involved in the incident and hope PBI will find out all the culprits since they have specialisation in case investigation,” said the father, who is a businessman in Old Dhaka.

Kalabagan police investigated the case for around five months, but failed to complete the probe.

The father alleged that the police investigation was mainly focused on Dihan.

After the rape and murder, father of the 17-year-old victim filed the case with Kalabagan Police Station on January 7 against Dihan (18) under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act.

According to the case statement, Dihan tricked the victim into going to his flat when his family members were away from home and raped her. The victim bled profusely and fell unconscious. Dihan then took her to a hospital to deflect blame, the complainant alleged.

On January 8, Dihan gave his confessional statement before a Dhaka court. Dihan, who recently passed A-levels, is now behind bars.

Source: The Daily Star

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