Thirteen-year-old Ishayat Shahriar Apratim left home on Saturday afternoon carrying his mother’s iPhone, hoping to take photographs with friends.
He never came back.
A day later, his body was found deep inside the Lalmai hills, where a farmer said jackals were pulling at it.
Apratim’s wallet was recovered from the scene. The iPhone was missing.
That has fuelled suspicion that the seventh grader may have been killed for his phone although police have yet to establish a motive.
Apratim was the only son of Cumilla University Bangla Department Associate Professor Nahida Begum and businessman Firoz Shahriar. The killing of the 13-year-old has triggered an outpouring of grief in Cumilla and beyond.
Since then, law enforcement agencies have detained a man named Tuhin and several others in connection with the case. Later, Special Response Battalion arrested another person named Anas for interrogation.
But Apratim’s death has also brought renewed attention to a wider problem in Cumilla, where police figures show 104 murders and 457 unnatural deaths in just nine months.
Records also show 368 theft cases, 37 robberies and 15 kidnappings during the period, statistics fuelled, according to experts, by an increase in mugging, drug abuse and juvenile crime, a sentiment echoed by locals.
A child goes missing
Family members said Apratim left his Kotbari home at around 3:30pm on Saturday with his mother’s iPhone to take photographs with friends.
When he failed to return, the family filed a general diary with Cumilla Sadar South Model Police Station.
His mother, Nahida Begum, also turned to social media, appealing for help to find her son.
The search ended the following day in the Lalmai hills.
Farmer Jilani spotted the body deep inside the hills and alerted others. He said jackals were pulling at it when he found it.
Police recovered the body, while members of the Detective Branch and the Criminal Investigation Department later visited the scene.
Apratim’s wallet was found there, but the iPhone was not.
Investigators later examined CCTV footage and detained Tuhin. Several others were subsequently detained based on information obtained from him.
Police declined to provide further details about those detained, saying disclosure could affect the investigation.
Cumilla Superintendent of Police Md Anisuzzaman said, “Everyone involved will quickly be brought under the law.”
104 murders in nine months
Apratim’s killing came against a backdrop of persistent violent crime in the district.
According to data presented at a meeting of the Cumilla District Law and Order Committee on 13 September, 104 murders were recorded between December 2025 and August 2026, an average of more than 11 a month.
Nine murders were recorded in December, followed by 14 in January, 12 in February, 11 in March, 10 in April, 17 in May, 10 in June, 10 in July and 11 in August.
Seventeen rape cases were also recorded during the period, while law enforcement agencies recovered 57 firearms.
The committee said the murders stemmed from family disputes, land conflicts, previous enmity and struggles for local dominance, among other causes.
There have also been allegations that some accused returned to criminal activity after securing bail.
Md Kamal Hossain, a resident of Ward No 16 in Cumilla city, said fear had become part of daily life.
“People are afraid to leave their homes after evening,” he said. “Police become active after some incidents, but after a few days everything goes back to the way it was.”
Fear on the streets and highways
Residents say mugging and robbery have also become growing concerns in the city and along highways.
Complaints are particularly common at night on highways, at bus terminals, in poorly lit areas and around residential neighbourhoods.
Among those killed in mugging attacks was Customs Officer Bullet Bairagi.
Criminals have also been accused of posing as passengers or drivers before attacking people inside vehicles.
Last week, robbers targeted the home of expatriate Jasim Uddin in Kalirbazar under Cumilla Adarsha Sadar Upazila.
A gang entered the house before dawn, tied up and assaulted his wife and children, and looted valuables.
“We live abroad. We are now worried about the safety of our family members back home,” Jasim said. “What are the police doing?”
Cumilla Modern High School President Nizam Uddin Kaiser said drugs and juvenile crime were adding to the sense of insecurity.
“Cumilla’s lanes and neighbourhoods are flooded with drugs. Mugging has increased severalfold. Juvenile gangs are now also being seen around school and college areas,” he said.
Drugs, unemployment and weak deterrence
According to Bangladesh Army International University of Science and Technology Law Department Head and Associate Professor Md Nayeem Alimul Haider, a combination of economic, social and structural pressures has contributed to the rise in crime.
“There are various socio-economic and structural reasons behind the recent rise in crimes, including murder and mugging,” he told TIMES of Bangladesh.
“Economic pressure, rising prices of essential goods and unemployment are pushing a section of people into crime in search of quick money,” he added.
He said drug abuse among young people was also contributing to theft and mugging, with some committing crimes to fund their addiction.
Haider said inadequate CCTV coverage and a lack of regular police patrols in crowded and isolated areas made it easier for criminals to commit offences and escape.
He also pointed to delays in trials and allegations that some suspects return to crime after being released on bail.
A lack of family supervision and broader social decline were also weakening respect for the law, he said.
Police, however, say they remain active.
Superintendent of Police Md Anisuzzaman said: “Police remain active and alert. Muggers, drug dealers and drug users are being arrested regularly.”
Cumilla District General Secretary Professor of Citizens for Good Governance, or SHUJAN, Ali Ahsan Titu, said policing alone would not solve the problem.
“It is difficult to control crime completely through law enforcement alone because the law-and-order situation is linked to societal values,” he told TIMES.
“It will take time to overcome the effects of social degradation.”
