A seven-year-old child was brutally suffocated to death with a pillow after being allegedly raped in Ashuganj Upazila of Brahmanbaria on Friday. Local residents caught the suspect, 18-year-old Jahidul, and handed him over to the police.
Prior to his arrest, hundreds of local residents laid siege to a building, confining the suspect along with police officers inside a room, before additional police forces arrived at the scene to take him into custody.
The incident occurred on Friday at the residence of Haji Kuddus Mia, adjacent to Andirdil Bazar in Talshahar Union of the upazila.
According to police and family sources, Jahidul called the girl into his room on Friday morning and allegedly raped her. When the child began screaming, he brutally killed her by suffocating her with a pillow.
Family members later rescued the child in a bloody condition and rushed her to District Sadar Hospital for treatment, where the emergency department doctor declared her dead at 2.30pm.
The accused, Jahidul, is a mason by profession and the son of the late Md Shah Alam Mia. He is a neighbour of the victim and her uncle.
Ashuganj Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Shafiqul Alam Chowdhury said police rushed to the scene upon receiving news of the crime. Local residents had already detained the suspect from his home and locked him in a room at his uncle Alamgir’s house.
When police attempted to take Jahidul into custody, an agitated crowd surrounded the building holding both the police and the suspect, hurling brickbats at the structure.
Additional police forces were subsequently brought in from the district headquarters to rescue the accused and bring him to the police station.
Police said the child’s body is currently kept in the morgue of Brahmanbaria 250-Bed District Sadar Hospital.
The body will be handed over to the family following a post-mortem examination, while the process of filing a case in connection with the incident is currently underway.
