Sadness all the way to grave

After the separation of his parents 11 years ago, Hasan Bapari used to live with his maternal grandparents in Feni. After their deaths last year, he was admitted to a madrasa in Narayanganj. But there he was sexually abused by a teacher and he left the madrasa.

Since then, he had been residing with his aunt in the capital's Wari.

The family planned to go to Cox's Bazar on holiday last night.

But that did not happen as the 12-year-old boy was killed by suspected burglars inside the house on Wednesday night.

Family members alleged that two youths, who are known to them, entered their flat on the sixth floor of a seven-storey building in Wari's Narinda and killed Hasan by slitting his throat. They looted eight tolas of gold ornaments and Tk 85,000.

Police detained one of them, aged around 24, but did not disclose his identity.

"The killers are known to the family members. We are trying to arrest the other involved in the incident and also recover the valuables," Shah Iftekhar Ahmed, deputy commissioner (Wari division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Victim's uncle Abdus Sobhan said Hasan was the youngest of three siblings.

On Wednesday evening, Hasan's uncle-in-law Zaman Bhuiyan and his son Azizul Haque were outside. At that time, two youths named Sohel and Zahid, who are acquaintances of Hasan's another aunt, went to the flat. Hasan and his aunt Ayesha Begum were there, said Sobhan.

"The duo had snacks at the house. Ayesha told them that she had to go outside for shopping for the next day's trip to Cox's Bazar. Ayesha and the youths then left together.

"After 20 minutes, one of them called Ayesha and wanted to know when she would return," Sobhan told The Daily Star.

Ayesha's son Azizul returned home and found the door locked from the outside. He waited until his mother came back home around 9:30pm.

After breaking open the door, Ayesha found Hasan's body and the flat ransacked. The family then found that around eight to nine tolas of gold ornaments and Tk 85,000 were missing.

Police said they suspected that the two youths were involved in the incident. After raiding a house in Maniknagar, they held one of the suspects.

Hasan's body was sent to Dhaka Medical College morgue for an autopsy yesterday.

ROBBERY, BURGLARY RISE IN CITY

Recently, the number of robberies and burglaries rose in the capital, say police.

According to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, at least 70 cases of robberies, attempted robberies, and burglaries have been filed with different police stations in the capital between December and January.

The DMP also conducted special operations as theft and robberies have increased. Police arrested 52 people in connection with the cases.

On February 7, burglars made away with around 500 tolas of gold ornaments of a jewellery shop and took around Tk 5 lakh from the shop and three others at Rapa Plaza in the capital's Dhanmondi area.

"Till now, there is no update in the case," Ekram Ali, officer-in-charge of Dhanmondi Police Station, told The Daily Star yesterday when asked about the progress of investigation.

On December 30, robbers looted Tk 34 lakh and 45 tolas of gold ornaments from a house in Panthapath area.

But in the two incidents, police could not arrest anyone or recover the goods.

Wishing not to be named, a high official of DMP said the incidents of robbery and burglary rose after October last year.

He added that they did not trace criminals as they could not find any clue in many cases.