At the entrance to a narrow alley, a CCTV camera is mounted on a building to the left. On the right, rows of buildings stand close together. On the ground floor of one of these buildings lives five-year-old Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil with his family.
This child has been missing for 28 days from Pallabi in Dhaka’s Mirpur area. CCTV footage shows the boy, dressed in a red T-shirt, entering the building. However, there is no footage of him. His father, Mohammad Jasim, now asks in despair, “Did my son just vanish after entering the house?”
The pair of sandals the child was wearing when he left home was later found inside the main gate of the building. Police have yet to find any clue regarding the incident.
The child’s parents suspect that someone inside the building may have abducted their son. They further alleged that the police are not treating the case with urgency because the disappearance has not gone ‘viral’ on social media.
Ibrahim is the third child of Jasim, a local fuchka vendor, and his wife Nasrin Akhter alias Nazmin. On Monday (8 June) afternoon, conversation took place at the child’s home with his parents and neighbours, as well as the son of the building’s owner and the investigating police officer.
‘Pair of sandals was found lying’
Ibrahim’s family rents two rooms on the ground floor of the building. Other tenants occupy the rest of the ground floor and the second floor, while the landlord’s children live with their families on the third and fourth floors, including a portion of the roof.
Ibrahim’s father, Jasim, said that his wife, Nasrin, is six months pregnant and her health is not well. On the day of the incident (13 May) she was resting at home. Their two other children had gone to the madrasa. Ibrahim’s playmate lived in the building next door. That evening, Ibrahim took two biscuits from his mother, saying he would give one to his friend. CCTV footage shows that at 7:41 pm, Ibrahim, wearing a red T-shirt, enters the building through the main gate. Right behind him, the landlord’s son, Omar Sharif, is also seen entering.
Jasim said he returned home around 11 pm that night and later learned that Ibrahim had not yet come back. However, the child’s pair of sandals was found lying in a disordered state inside the building’s main gate. Ibrahim used to visit the landlord’s children frequently, but he was not found there that day. Searches at nearby friends’ and relatives’ houses also yielded no trace. Later, the family announced the disappearance over loudspeakers in the area until dawn. The next day, Jasim filed a general diary (GD) at Pallabi Police Station, reporting his son missing. When he went to view the CCTV footage installed by the building owners’ association at the alley entrance, he was told the monitor was not working and was asked to bring a pen drive. He purchased a pen drive and collected the footage himself. From the footage, he confirmed that his son had entered the building that day, but there was no footage showing him leaving.
Jasim also said he heard a child’s voice shouting “Baba, baba” in the footage, which he believes was his son’s voice.
Ibrahim’s mother, Nasrin, said they suspect the landlord’s family. She added that Ibrahim only used to visit the landlord’s household within the building. When they went there searching for him, a member of the landlord’s family allegedly behaved aggressively and assaulted her brother-in-law, breaking his head, also injuring her younger brother.
‘Police inactive because it didn’t go viral’
Holding up their son’s photo, Ibrahim’s parents broke down in tears, repeatedly asking where their ‘piece of heart’ had gone.
His father, Jasim, said with frustration that they have been living in the house on rent for 8 to 10 years. Ibrahim was born in the same house. Their ancestral home is in Sadar upazila of Jhalkathi. He said they are poor and because his son’s disappearance has not gone ‘viral’ on social media, police are not actively pursuing the case. He added that he has handed over all CCTV footage to the police but no effective action has been taken. Later, he filed a complaint with RAB-4 as well. Police and RAB members reportedly searched the landlord’s residence and surrounding areas but no trace of the child was found.
When visiting the third floor to speak with the landlord’s family, the door was found locked. A collapsible gate at the stairway to the fourth floor was also closed. Upon ringing the bell, one of the landlord’s children, who is physically disabled, came out. He said no one else was home.
Later, reached by phone, another child of the landlord, Omar Sharif, told Prothom Alo that he saw Ibrahim entering the building. Soon after, he heard the boy was missing. Responding to the family's suspicions, Omar Sharif said, "Ibrahim is the same age as my own child. They often played together. Ibrahim used to come to our house and eat with us. Why would we harm him? I also feel very bad. The boy entered the house and then disappeared.”
‘No significant progress yet’
The General Diary (GD) filed regarding Ibrahim’s disappearance was converted into a formal case on 2 June. The case was filed by Ibrahim’s father, Jasim, under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, accusing unidentified individuals of kidnapping.
The investigating officer, Sub-Inspector (SI) Mohammad Mizanur Rahman of Pallabi Police Station, told Prothom Alo that there has not yet been any significant progress in the investigation. He said police have visited the scene and conducted searches and are reviewing CCTV footage. He also noted that if there is a power outage, CCTV cameras may not record footage, making it unclear whether the child left the building or was taken away.
Responding to the issue of a child’s crying voice allegedly heard in the footage, SI Mizanur Rahman said they are verifying whether such a clear sound can actually be captured in CCTV recordings.
Information about the missing child has also been submitted to “Moon Alert,” a technology-based platform that issues alerts for missing children. Its chief coordinator, Sadat Rahman, told Prothom Alo that trained sniffer dogs are needed to trace Ibrahim. Such dogs can track scent trails and indicate the direction in which the child may have gone. He added that law enforcement agencies could provide assistance in this regard.