“My soul went away with you, Apratim; my grasshopper loved taking photos, but he will take photos no more,” wept Dr Nahida Begum, an associate professor of Department of Bangla at Cumilla University, grieving the loss of her only child, 13-year-old Ishayat Shahriar Apratim.
Heart-wrenching cries of the bereaved mother filled Nurjahan Villa in Kotbari on Sunday morning after the body of her young son was brought home. Expressing her unbearable grief, she cried out that while her body remained, her life and soul had departed alongside her child.
The tragic sequence of events began on Friday night when Apratim went missing, prompting his father, KM Firoz Shahriar, to lodge a General Diary (GD) at Sadar Dakshin Police Station around midnight.
Personnel from the Kotbari Police Outpost were subsequently assigned to locate the missing boy. According to the family, the location of Apratim’s mobile phone could not be identified initially, leading to additional police personnel being deployed to search for him on Saturday morning.
By Saturday noon, the teenager’s body was recovered from a jungle in the Sananda area of Lalmai Hills, located on the southern side of Cumilla University.
Apratim’s father alleged that the administration of Cumilla University played a far more active role in the search efforts than the police.
Neighbour Abu Sayeed noted that although the GD was filed shortly after midnight on Friday, efforts to track Apratim’s location through information technology were only made in the morning.
The brutal killing has sparked renewed discussion across the region regarding the uncontrolled activities of teenage gangs and muggers in Lalmai Hills and the Cumilla University area.
Several students and local residents alleged that officer-in-charge (OC) of the police station had previously been informed about the issue, but no effective action was taken.
Community members also questioned the role of the police following Apratim’s disappearance, with some local residents, speaking on condition of anonymity, making allegations of various irregularities against the OC.
When contacted multiple times via phone calls and text messages regarding these allegations, Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mohammad Rakibul Islam of Sadar Dakshin Police Station could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, police have arrested four individuals in connection with the murder, with three of them directly involved and the role of the fourth currently being verified. Cumilla Superintendent of Police (SP) Md Anisuzzaman disclosed these details during a press conference at 2pm on Sunday.
The arrested persons have been identified as Saiful Islam Tuhin, 19, son of Nure Alam from Sananda in Sadar Dakshin; Mozammel Hossain Fahad, 15, son of Momin Hossain from Salmanpur; Kamrul Hasan, 15, son of Md Abdul Kuddus from Hatigara in Sadar Upazila; and Md Siam, son of Selim Mia from Elahipur in Sadar Dakshin.
The Superintendent of Police stated that law enforcement officers began investigating immediately after the GD was filed. An analysis of nearby CCTV footage revealed that Tuhin led Apratim towards a secluded jungle, primarily targeting the iPhone the boy had with him.
Information obtained during the interrogation of Tuhin led to the arrest of Fahad, whose subsequent statements brought the direct involvement of his friend Kamrul to light.
The SP confirmed that evidence shows direct involvement of three of the arrested individuals, while the involvement of the remaining person is undergoing further verification.
