Cold case cracked
In late March, 2017, police recovered the decapitated body of a woman in a secluded area near Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. They had no clue about the identity of the victim or who killed her in such a brutal way.
Finding no other option, they ran her fingerprints through the National Identity Card database and a week later they got a match.
The victim was garment worker Kulsum Akhter, 25, of Elias Mollah slum in Pallabi and a mother of two.
She had been missing since March 22, 2017, when she left home for work.
Her family members, who had been desperately looking for her, was devastated.
Kulsum’s mother said, “I’ve lost my child but the loss Kulsum’s children suffered cannot be explained with words.”
Her body was handed over to the family following a DNA match with her mother.
The family mourned but could not get justice as the police were clueless as to who committed the brutal murder.
But two years later, detectives got their men yesterday.
As Airport Police Station failed to make any headway in the case for a year, the Detective Branch (DB) of police took over the probe.
In a raid in Mirpur area yesterday, a DB team arrested three suspects of Kulsum murder.
Suspect Enamul Haque,25, a professional driver, had been arrested in the case before, but he was out on bail. His alleged cohorts were fish traders Kalu and Kashem who were detained.
Detectives said when they arrested Enamul earlier, he did not confess even though police had evidence that he had a relationship with the victim and the victim’s phone was on at his home the last time before being switched off.
Now he has confessed that Kulsum went to his place close to the slum in the morning of March 22, 2017, DB officials claimed.
The detectives quoting Enamul said the suspect took Tk 20,000 from Kalu and Kashem to help them rape Kulsum at his home. When they tried to violate her, she attempted to scream and the trio gagged her with a traditional towel and Enamul asphyxiated her.
The three then severed her head and dumped it and the sharp weapons they used in the sewer at Pallabi Bus Stand. They put the body in a bag and left it near the airport.
“The strong water flow washed the head away. We could not recover it,” said investigation officer of the case Inspector Jahidui Islam.
Moharam Ali Masud, additional deputy commissioner of DB, said, “We have given our best and have been successful in cracking such an old clueless murder case.”
Deputy Commissioner (North) of DB Mashiur Rahman said they could unravel it due to officers’ relentless effort. He urged people to be careful about whom they trust on social media and befriend in real life.
Kulsum’s mother told The Daily Star that she wants the highest punishment of her daughter’s killers.
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