Boyfriend arrested

Police arrested a youth for his alleged involvement in the murder of college student Benjir Jahan Mukta, 19, who was stabbed to death allegedly by her boyfriend in Barikaran area of Nalchhity last Sunday.

The arrestee, Sohag, son of Sobhan Mir of Nasnapara village, is a worker at a polythene factory in the capital, Jhalakathi Additional Superintendent of Police Jahangir Alam said.

Following a friendship on Facebook, the duo fell in love about a year ago and since then they were in touch over mobile phone.

“I gave her a smartphone so that she can contact me easily. I also used to send her Tk 3,000 every month,” said Sohag at a press briefing in Jhalakathi on Friday.

Recently, Mukta was avoiding Sohag when the latter put pressure on her for marriage, police said, quoting the arrestee.

Being suspicious, Sohag started to follow Mukta's activities and soon came to know that Mukta was chatting with different boys on Facebook at the same time.

“Finally, I decided to meet her and if she failed to give satisfactory answer I would kill her, Sohag said, adding that as per plan he bought a knife from Chawkbazar and boarded a Jhalakathi-bound launch on February 2.

“The next morning I met Mukta on her way to the college and at one stage of altercation I took away her cellphone,” Sohag said, adding that Mukta again met him the same afternoon and was repeatedly asking me to return the mobile phone.

Being annoyed at her, at one stage, he stabbed Mukta in the neck with the knife, leaving her dead on the spot before fleeing the spot.