Many questions remain unanswered in Cumilla schoolgirl’s murder

Police say they have solved the mystery surrounding the murder of a 15-year-old class seven student in Lalmai, Cumilla. They have arrested CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver Sumon Mia and recovered the iPhone used by the girl from a location he identified.

However, several questions remain unanswered, including why the girl was taken to an isolated paddy field via a 30-kilometre detour when her destination was just eight kilometres away, and whether anyone else was involved in the murder.

The girl’s family has lived in Cumilla for several years, so she was expected to have some familiarity with the district’s geography.

This has raised questions about how she was taken in the opposite direction instead of towards the city. According to police, Sumon Mia confessed to sexually assaulting the girl.

At a press conference at the Cumilla District Police Superintendent’s Office on Saturday morning, Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime) Pankaj Barua outlined the details of the high-profile murder. He said investigators had found evidence of Sumon’s involvement. The investigation is ongoing, and police have yet to establish whether anyone else was involved.

According to police, they recovered the girl’s body from a paddy field in the Uttarpara area of Bhorajagatpur in Lalmai upazila on Thursday morning. A gamchha was found around her neck. A CNG-run auto-rickshaw was parked nearby, with some clothes inside and a handbag beside it.

Police claim that when the girl tried to escape after reaching the isolated location, Sumon struggled to restrain her.

During questioning, he reportedly confessed to wrapping the gamchha around her neck and raping her. He then took her into the paddy field, forced her face down towards the ground, pressed her head down with his foot and strangled her.

According to the police investigation, the girl was looking for an auto-rickshaw to return home near the Tisha bus counter, adjacent to Noorjahan Hotel in the Padua Bazar Biswa Road area, late on Wednesday night. She boarded Sumon’s auto-rickshaw at around 12:30 am.

After negotiating the fare, Sumon agreed to take her home for Tk 300. However, instead of heading towards her home, he took the road in the opposite direction towards an isolated area.

The distance from Padua Bazar to the Racecourse area of Cumilla city is approximately eight kilometres.

According to the police account, Sumon initially drove towards Bijra Bazar along the Cumilla–Chandpur regional highway.

He then took the Cumilla–Noakhali regional highway and reached the paddy fields near Bhorajagatpur in Lalmai. The entire route covers at least 30 kilometres.

It is important to establish what happened during this lengthy detour. Vehicles travel along both regional highways at night, and some areas have at least a small number of people around. It remains unclear what the girl experienced along the route and whether she had an opportunity to seek help at any point.

According to police, Sumon claimed during questioning that the girl showed no “reaction” while the auto-rickshaw was moving.

Additional Superintendent of Police Pankaj Barua said the journey from Padua Bazar to the girl’s home should have taken no more than half an hour.

Instead, Sumon drove around for one and a half to two hours before reaching the crime scene. He said, “If the girl had called 999 at the crime scene or even before reaching it, perhaps we would not have had to witness such a death.”

Police claim that when the girl tried to escape after reaching the isolated location, Sumon struggled to restrain her.

During questioning, he reportedly confessed to wrapping the gamchha around her neck and raping her. He then took her into the paddy field, forced her face down towards the ground, pressed her head down with his foot and strangled her.

Police said the girl sent her father her “live location” at 2:58 am. Her father, who was asleep at the time, did not see the message. He noticed it towards dawn and went out to look for her.

By then, police had reached the scene and were recovering the body. He later arrived there and identified his daughter’s body.

The press conference did not provide details about the circumstances in which the girl sent her “live location”, whether she feared she was in danger at the time, or what happened after she shared it. However, the available information indicates that she still had her phone with her at that point.

Police said Sumon admitted to the rape allegation during questioning. However, investigators must wait for the forensic report to establish the facts conclusively. Police have also been unable to confirm whether the rape occurred before or after the murder.

CCTV footage from the area around the crime scene shows the girl sitting inside the auto-rickshaw. She appears to be seated on the rear left side.

Journalists questioned whether anyone else was in the vehicle. Police said their investigation had so far found no evidence of anyone else’s involvement apart from Sumon.

According to the police’s preliminary investigation, the girl left home on 4 October, saying she was going to visit a friend. Police later found information indicating that she had travelled to Brahmanbaria and Cox’s Bazar. She returned to Cumilla from Cox’s Bazar late on Wednesday night on an Iconic Express bus.

At around 11: 45 pm, she got off the bus in front of Noorjahan Hotel in the Padua Bazar area. She then charged her mobile phone at a shop. At around 12:15 am, she went to Padua Bazar Biswa Road and subsequently boarded an auto-rickshaw to return home, according to police.

Detailed information about how the girl travelled between different locations from 4 October until the night of 7 October has yet to emerge. Police said her family had not filed a general diary (GD) at any police station during those four days.

Following the incident, Mustain Billah Ferdous, senior assistant superintendent of police for the Cumilla Sadar South Circle, said the girl had informed her family on Wednesday afternoon that she would return home that night.

Police said Sumon left the auto-rickshaw at the crime scene after the murder and took the iPhone with him. He later bathed in a pond near Kochikata Mosque. He then travelled by another auto-rickshaw to the Bakhrabad area, where he hid the phone in bushes beside a pond. He subsequently left for Chattogram.

Police arrested him there on Friday. Acting on information he provided, police recovered the iPhone from Bakhrabad on the same day.

According to police, the incident occurred as the girl travelled home from Padua Bazar Biswa Road. The case has therefore raised questions about passenger safety and police patrols on highways and surrounding roads at night.

Earlier, on the night of 24 April, customs official Bullet Boiragi also fell into a trap set by an organised CNG-run auto-rickshaw gang after getting off a bus. The gang robbed and murdered him.

Additional Superintendent of Police Pankaj Barua said police had also identified those responsible for previous incidents and brought them to justice within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the girl’s mother has expressed suspicions about the role of one of her daughter’s friends in her death. Speaking on Friday at the family home in Chhatiantala village in Jashore Sadar upazila, she said her daughter had told her on Wednesday afternoon that she was with a friend.

Although she asked for the friend’s name and details of her parents, her daughter did not disclose them. The mother claimed that questioning the friend could help investigators uncover information about the murder.

Additional Superintendent of Police Pankaj Barua said the investigation remained at an early stage and that investigators would seek answers to the outstanding questions as the inquiry progressed.