Girl found in Shitalakkhya: Body wrapped in burqa, mouth gagged

A seven-year-old girl, who went missing from near her Rupganj residence in Narayanganj on January 25, was found dead at Shitalakkhya river in Dhaka's Demra area yesterday afternoon.

The body of Kohinoor Akter Sadia was wrapped in a burqa and her mouth was gagged. She was wearing her school dress, police said.

The girl went missing as she was playing near her house after returning from school, Wahidul Islam, uncle of the victim, told The Daily Star today.

"We identified the decomposed body at the hospital morgue, seeing her school uniform and body structure," he said.

Locals first saw the body floating on the river, around 500 feet south of Sultana Kamal Bridge, around 1:00pm yesterday and informed police, Inspector Kaiyum Ali Sarker, in-charge of Demra River Police Outpost, told The Daily Star today.

"We recovered the decomposed body and sent it to the Sir Salimullah Medical College morgue early today for autopsy." he said.

"We suspected unidentified criminals strangulated her and dropped the body into the river, wrapping it in the burqa," the police officer said.

Morgue sources said they collected evidence and samples to determine the cause of death.

Abir Hossain, assistant superintendent (Rupganj circle) of Narayanganj police, said they already detained two persons in this regard. "We are investigating it," he said.