'Killed out of jealousy'
Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) has finalised murder charges against six people for the deaths of a student couple in a hotel room in Rajshahi in 2016. A previous investigation had claimed that the male student killed the girl and then died by suicide.
“We've completed the investigation and will submit the charge sheet upon getting approval from higher authorities,” Abul Kalam Azad, additional superintendent of police of Rajshahi PBI, told The Daily Star yesterday.
While investigating, Mohidul Islam, the investigation officer, found that four persons gang-raped the girl and murdered the couple in their hotel room. Two of the hotel staffers assisted the killers.
The IO said the couple was murdered out of jealousy as the girl broke up with one of the four killers.
On April 22, 2016, police recovered the bodies of Mizanur Rahman, 22, a student of Rajshahi University and his fiancée Sumaiya Nasrin, 20, a student of Pabna University of Science and Technology, from a room of Hotel Nice International in the city's Shaheb Bazar area.
Mizanur's body was found hanging from the ceiling with hands tied with a scarf. Sumaiya's body was found on the bed. There were stab marks on her body and her face was buried under a pillow.
A case was filed with Boalia Police Station. Ten months later, police submitted final report, stating that Mizanur hanged himself after killing Sumaiya. The autopsy confirmed his suicide.
A Rajshahi court said the report failed to answer how Mizanur could take his life with hands tied, why his body bore torture marks and why cigarettes of three brands were found in the room. On April 17, 2017, the court asked PBI to reinvestigate. PBI then went through Mizanur's call records, which was not done previously.
After investigation, PBI identified Ahsan Habib, 20; Rahat Mahmud, 21; Borhan Kabir Utso, 22; and Al Amin, 20; -- all university and college students in Rajshahi and two hotel staffers -- Md Bokhtiar, 32; and Nayan Hossain, 32.
Of them, Habib, Utso and Nayan gave confessional statements before courts, admitting their involvement. Habib and Utso said they murdered the couple as Sumaiya “cheated on” their friend Rahat.
“Our murder charges are based on their statements and circumstantial evidence,” said the IO. When asked about previous report, he said it was “evidential error”. He did not elaborate further.
Bribing the hotel staffers, the four entered the couple's room cutting a window grille beside the air conditioner. They found Sumaiya alone inside and forced her to call Mizanur. Once Mizanur arrived, the four raped her and killed them.
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