A ninth-grade student was rescued from a school washroom in Digholia upazila of Khulna with her hands, legs and mouth tied, nearly five hours after classes ended on Thursday.
The incident took place at Gazirhat Hazi Naimuddin High School, where the girl was found inside a locked washroom around 9pm.
According to school authorities and local residents, classes ended at around 4:00pm, after which teachers, staff and students left the premises. Later in the evening, workers involved in construction activities at the school heard unusual sounds coming from a locked washroom.
Suspecting someone was trapped inside, the workers went to the washroom and heard a girl moaning. They broke open the lock and found the student lying there with her hands, legs and mouth tied.
The workers rescued her and took her to the chamber of local physician Mofizur Rahman Shafin for first aid. She was later shifted to a private hospital in Khulna after her condition deteriorated.
The girl’s mother alleged that someone attacked her daughter from behind after she entered the washroom following the end of classes. She claimed the attackers tied her hands, legs and mouth before leaving her inside.
She further alleged that the girl had been injected with an unidentified substance and had injuries caused by a sharp object on different parts of her body.
Police said the details of the incident and the identities of those involved were yet to be confirmed.
Digholia Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Hawlader Sanwar Hossain Masum said an initial investigation found that two people had remained near the washroom after school hours.
“Police suspect they may have taken advantage of the empty school premises, attacked the girl and tied her up inside the washroom,” he said.
The OC said the student later regained consciousness and began making sounds, which alerted the construction workers.
He added that the girl told her relatives that she could not identify the attackers.
Police were also investigating whether the incident had any connection with a possible financial dispute dating back to the period when the girl’s father ran an NGO several years ago.
“We are investigating who committed the incident and why. Those responsible will be brought to justice as soon as possible,” OC Masum said.
