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A court in Tangail has sentenced a man to death for abducting, murdering, and attempting to conceal the body of a nine-year-old schoolgirl in a ransom-related case.
The court also handed him separate prison terms for abduction, wrongful confinement for ransom, and destroying evidence.
The verdict was delivered on Wednesday by Judge A.N.M. Elias of the Tangail Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal.
The convicted man, Sabbir Mia, 21, is the son of Anwar Hossain from Dariapur (Uttarpara) village in Sakhipur upazila. The judgment was pronounced in his presence, after which he was sent to Tangail District Jail.
According to Public Prosecutor Advocate Md. Omrao Khan Dipu, the victim, Samia Akter, a third-grade student at Dariapur Uttar Government Primary School, left home for private tuition on the morning of September 6, 2023. While returning home, Sabbir allegedly gagged her from behind and took her into a nearby wooded area.
When the child tried to escape, he strangled her to death. He then attempted to hide the crime by burying her body under mud in a drainage ditch beside a paddy field.
After the killing, Sabbir allegedly used a fake Imo account to send voice messages demanding Tk 500,000 in ransom from the victim’s father while concealing his identity.
The girl’s father, Ranju Mia, filed a case with Sakhipur Police Station on September 7. Police recovered Samia’s body from the drainage ditch the following day.
Using information technology, investigators arrested Sabbir on September 28, 2023. He later confessed to the crime in a statement recorded before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Police submitted the charge sheet on February 11, 2024, and 18 witnesses testified during the trial.
The court sentenced Sabbir to death and fined him Tk 30,000 for the murder.
He was also sentenced to 15 years’ rigorous imprisonment and fined Tk 20,000 for abduction, life imprisonment and a Tk 30,000 fine for confining the child for ransom, and an additional five years’ rigorous imprisonment with a Tk 10,000 fine for attempting to conceal the body and destroying key evidence by burning it with kerosene.
