Keraniganj murders: Prime accused gives confessional statement

Prime accused Mim Begum has given a confessional statement in a case over the killings of a teenage girl and her mother in Keraniganj upazila of Dhaka.

Dhaka Senior Judicial Magistrate Tajul Islam Sohag recorded the statement of 22-year-old private tutor Mim on Friday after she agreed to confess, said an assistant sub-inspector at the court.

After recording statements, the magistrate sent Mim to jail.

On the same day, Mim’s 15-year-old sister was sent to the Child Development Centre in Gazipur after being produced before the court.

The two sisters were arrested in connection with the murders of eighth-grader Zobaida Rahman Fatema, 14, and her mother, Rokeya Rahman, 32.

On December 27, Shahin Ahmed filed a general diary with Keraniganj Model Police Station, a day after his wife, Rokeya and daughter Fatema went missing. 

On January 6, he filed a kidnapping case against unidentified suspects as they remained missing.

On Friday, Sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 34 (common intention) were added to the case, said a court staffer.

Police recovered the bodies of Rokeya and Fatema from Mim’s flat in Keraniganj’s Muktirbag area on January 15, 21 days after they went missing.

Local residents said a foul smell had been spreading in the area for several days. On January 15, neighbours traced the smell to Mim’s flat and called 999 after she refused to open the door.

Police later searched the flat and found Rokeya’s body under a bed and Fatema’s body above a false ceiling in the bathroom.

According to police and family members, Fatema went to Mim’s flat for private lessons around 5:00pm on December 25. When she did not return, Rokeya went to look for her, but neither came back.

Police said a quarrel broke out between Mim’s younger sister and Fatema that night over financial issues. During the altercation, the younger sister strangled Fatema to death. When Rokeya arrived, she too was strangled with a scarf.