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CCTV footage has emerged showing the movements of 15-year-old schoolgirl Jannatul Tazmin hours before her body was recovered from a paddy field in Lalmai upazila of Cumilla, raising new questions about the circumstances surrounding her death.
The footage shows Tazmin getting off an Iconic Paribahan bus in front of Noorjahan Hotel at Paduar Bazar around 11:45pm on Wednesday. The bus had returned from Cox’s Bazar.
She was then seen moving towards a food shop beside the hotel and several stationery shops on its western side. At one point, she stood in front of a shop and spoke to the shopkeeper, who appeared to show her something or give her directions.
Around midnight, Tazmin moved away from the shop after the interaction. She was last seen leaving the Noorjahan Hotel area at around 12:15am. However, investigators have yet to obtain CCTV footage showing where she went afterwards.
Police are examining her movements, possible means of transport and whether she met anyone after leaving the area. Investigators are also looking into a CNG-run auto-rickshaw found near the place where her body was recovered.
Tazmin’s body was found early Thursday in a paddy field beside the Cumilla-Noakhali regional highway in Jagatpur village of Lalmai. Several nearby fields showed signs of trampling and a possible struggle, with rice plants lying scattered. An abandoned CNG-run auto-rickshaw and a vanity bag were also found nearby.
Local resident Ruhul Amin said he noticed the vehicle and signs of a struggle before finding the girl’s body in a nearby field. Her head was buried in mud, and a gamchha was wrapped around her neck, he said.
Police suspect she may have been strangled, but the exact cause of death will be established after the autopsy report. Several police units, including the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), have collected evidence from the scene.
Tazmin’s father, Abdul Alim, said his only daughter left their rented home in Cumilla city on October 4, saying she would visit a friend. She later travelled to Cox’s Bazar with the friend and was returning to Cumilla on Wednesday night.
Her father said he repeatedly called her that night but received no answer. At around 1:45am, she sent him a message and her live location, asking him to come and take her home. He said he saw the message only in the morning and later discovered that her body was being recovered at the location.
Police said they had also found information suggesting that Tazmin had travelled to Brahmanbaria and Cox’s Bazar. Investigators are trying to establish whether anyone accompanied her during those trips.
Lalmai Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mizanur Rahman said the cause of death and those responsible had yet to be established. Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police Mostain Billah said the auto-rickshaw had been seized and investigators were following its registration details.
Tazmin’s father has filed a murder case against unidentified people. After the autopsy, relatives took her body to their ancestral home in Chhatiantala village under Churamankati Union in Jashore Sadar, where she was buried in the family graveyard.
Tazmin was a seventh-grade student at Farida Bidyayatan in Cumilla, although school authorities said she had not attended classes since February this year.