From disappearance to recovery of body: FIR details Apratim’s final 22 hours

Ishayat Shahriar Apratim, 13, the only child of Nahida Begum, an associate professor in the Department of Bangla at Comilla University, left home at around 3:30 pm last Friday carrying his mother’s iPhone. He said he was going out to take photographs with friends, but did not return home for hours.

At around 7:00 pm, his family called the phone, only to find that it had been switched off. They then began searching for him. At around 10:30 pm, Apratim’s father, KM Firoz Shahriar, filed a general diary (GD) at the police station.

The following day, Saturday, Apratim’s body was recovered at around noon from a wooded area of Lalmai Hill in the Sananda area adjacent to the university. His mother’s iPhone was not found with the body. There were also blunt-force injuries to his forehead and face.

At around 12:30 am on Saturday night, Apratim’s father filed a murder case with Sadar South Model Police Station against unidentified accused persons. Police have arrested three people in the case. One of them is Saiful Islam alias Tuhin, 19. Of the other two, one is 15 and the other 16. Police have also detained a 19-year-old named Siam for questioning.

The account of the incident given by Apratim’s father in the FIR provides a chronological picture of the period from his son’s disappearance until the recovery of his body.

In the FIR, Firoz Shahriar said Apratim left their home in South Bagmara (Gandhamati) area under Ward no. 24 of Cumilla Sadar South Model Police Station at around 3:30 pm on 18 September (Friday). He was carrying an iPhone used by his mother, Nahida Begum. The phone contained a SIM card.

The father said in the FIR that his son had left home to take photographs. He and his wife were at home at the time. When Apratim did not return after a long time, his father called the iPhone he was carrying at around 7:00 pm. The phone was switched off. Family members and relatives then began searching for him in different places.

After failing to find him anywhere, Firoz Shahriar went to Sadar South Model Police Station at around 10:30 pm and filed a general diary (GD) reporting his son missing. The GD number was 983, dated 18 September 2026.

According to the FIR, police were also searching for Apratim. At around noon on 19 September, two witnesses, Abdul Quader Jilani and 16-year-old Hafezur Rahman Saimon, spotted Apratim’s body on a hill slope in Sananda Westpara. They informed police.

After receiving the news, Apratim’s father went there with relatives at around 12:30 pm. In the FIR, he said he saw bloodied blunt-force injuries on his son’s forehead and face. The iPhone he had been carrying, however, was not found.

Police later prepared an inquest report at the scene. The body was sent to the Department of Forensic Medicine at Comilla Medical College Hospital for autopsy.

In the FIR, Apratim’s father said the unidentified accused, acting in collusion and according to a premeditated plan, killed his son and left his body at the hill-slope location sometime between 3:30 pm on 18 September and noon on 19 September. They then took the iPhone he had been carrying.

The FIR, however, does not specify how the killing was carried out, who committed it, the precise motive, or the name of any individual. The case was filed against unidentified accused persons.

Even before the case was filed, police and university authorities had been reviewing CCTV footage in an effort to locate Apratim. In one piece of footage, a young man was seen with Apratim. The man was later detained for questioning.

Police said that after the investigation progressed based on questioning and CCTV footage, Apratim’s mother’s iPhone was recovered on Saturday night. Police also said they had found information linking three people to the killing.

At a press conference at the Cumilla Superintendent of Police’s office on Sunday afternoon, Superintendent of Police Md Anisuzzaman said Apratim had been deliberately taken to the forested, hilly area of Sananda with the intention of snatching his mobile phone.

When the suspects tried to take the phone, Apratim resisted. During the ensuing struggle, Saiful and the other two juveniles struck him on the head with bamboo sticks, the police chief said.

According to police, after confirming Apratim’s death, Saiful took the phone he had been carrying and left the scene with the other two juveniles. Saiful then took the phone to his home and hid it under a bed. At around 8:00 pm on Saturday, police recovered the iPhone with Saiful present, they said.

Police have shown Saiful Islam alias Tuhin and the two juveniles as arrested in the case. Another person, Siam, has been detained and his involvement is being investigated.