Mentally challenged youth killed by robbers in Cox’s Bazar

A mentally handicapped youth was killed during a robbery in his own house in the Charpara area of Ramu upazila in Cox’s Bazar, reports UNB.

According to the victim’s family members, the robbers tortured and eventually murdered him after he caught them in the act.

Md Faruk, son-in-law of Kashem's uncle Mohammad Ali, was injured in the incident as he tried to stop the robbers from taking away all the cows.

“One of them shot at me but missed,” said Faruk. The hustlers tried to loot seven cows from the house but could get away with only two.

Kashem's body was found in a nearby vegetable field the morning after the robbery.

“He had gone missing following the incident. We discovered his body in the morning. Ropes were wrapped around his eyes-mouth, hands, and feet,” said Mohammad Ali.

Officer-in-charge (investigation) of Ramu police station, Arup Kumar Chowdhury, went to the spot and sent the body for autopsy.

But the family claims the police weren’t helpful in the incident. “One police officer used derogatory terms toward my ninth-grader daughter,” said Mohammad Ali.

“They slammed us for calling the 999 helpline,” he added.

In fact the police are reluctant to accept that Kashem's death was even related to the robbery.

Anwarul Islam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Ramu police station, said, “The robbery occurred at night, but the body was found the next morning. We cannot yet say whether these incidents are related or not. We are investigating.”

Local UP member Zafar Alam said, "As Kashem was mentally handicapped, he used to shout at unknown people. Maybe he saw them in the night and started shouting. That’s why they tortured and killed him”.

Crimes like theft and robbery have increased at Ramu upazila in recent times. Earlier, five cows were stolen from another house in the same upazila some five days ago.