A three-and-a-half-year-old girl, Tayifa Sultana, was allegedly murdered by her paternal aunt in the Moydar Mill area of Sualak Union in Bandarban Sadar Upazila on Monday afternoon.
Police have arrested the accused aunt, Nargis Sultana Kochi, 49, in connection with the killing. The lifeless body of the child was recovered from a box inside Kochi’s bedroom after closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage revealed her calling the victim into her room.
According to the victim’s father, Iliyas Khan Tipu, he was unable to locate Tayifa on Monday afternoon, prompting him to post a missing notice on Facebook and went to the police station to file a General Diary (GD).
Upon being informed of the CCTV camera installed at the residence, police examined the recorded footage on Tipu’s mobile phone, identified the child’s position, and subsequently discovered her body inside a box beside a wardrobe (alna) in Kochi’s room.
Bandarban Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Masud Parvez stated that Kochi was taken into custody and the body was sent to Bandarban Sadar Hospital for an autopsy. During preliminary interrogation, Kochi confessed to committing the murder, though she did not disclose any motive behind the act.
Local sources said that Kochi had been residing at her younger brother’s residence following her divorce from her husband.
However, no details were available about any dispute or estrangement between the family members.
