Following the missing of his daughter, the father would rush to the police station, sometimes to investigative agencies, and occasionally to the court, pleading for help to find his daughter.
Throughout this frantic search for seven long years, the police, Detective Branch (DB), Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) investigated the matter but could not resolve it.
Each agency stated that no definite information was found regarding the disappearance.
The father expressed his dissatisfaction with the investigations, filing objections four times.
He sold his property and took loans to continue the case and sought new investigations, suspecting his son-in-law's involvement in the daughter's disappearance.
The father applied for a judicial inquiry. After the judicial investigation, the court ordered a new case. The responsibility of the investigation was given to the PBI.
This time, instead of focusing on the father's complaint, the PBI started the investigation based on the general diary (GD) filed by the girl’s husband regarding her disappearance.
The GD mentioned a mobile phone number associated with the girl. In sequel to that, it was revealed that in July 2015, the girl was brutally murdered, and her body was thrown into a river. The father himself had hired someone to do this.
Throughout this frantic search for seven long years, the police, Detective Branch (DB), Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) investigated the matter but could not resolve it. Each agency stated that no definite information was found regarding the disappearance. The father expressed his dissatisfaction with the investigations, filing objections four times.
During the interrogation, the girl's father told the investigators that the daughter had married against the family's wishes. This brought "dishonour" to him and his family. In his anger, he killed his daughter and attempted to frame his son-in-law. To hide his crime, he filed a case against his son-in-law.
The girl's name was Parul Akter. Her father's name was Md Quddus Mia. Their home was in Ghoria Pashchimpara of Kalihati, Tangail. On 28 May 2012, Parul eloped and married Nasir Uddin (Babu) from the same village. They then lived in the Jamgora area of Ashulia, Dhaka, for three years. Due to domestic strife, Parul wanted to return to her father in 2015.
On 22 July 2015, Quddus Mia lured Parul to Kalindpur of Panchbibi in Joypurhat. He then killed Parul and disposed of her body in a river.
PBI uncovered the murder in January 2023. Qudds Mia was then arrested. He confessed to the murder in court. In January of the current year (2026), the mystery of Parul's murder was detailed in a book titled "Investigation of Unknown Corpse and Clueless Murder Cases," published by the PBI headquarters.
How Parul was murdered
PBI reported that after eloping, Parul Akter had no contact with her family for three years. Parul and her husband Nasir Uddin worked at a garment factory in Ashulia, Dhaka. However, their income was insufficient to run the household, leading to frequent disputes. Three and a half years after their marriage, in July 2015, Parul contacted her father, Quddus Mia. He advised her to return home. On 19 July 2015, Parul returned to Tangail, leaving her husband.
Quddus Mia was furious at Parul for eloping. He felt immensely dishonoured because of her and planned her murder in his rage and anger. He shared his plan with his friend and hired killer Mokaddes alias Moka dacoit. They chose Mokaddes’ in-laws’ house in Kalindpur village by the Tulshiganga River in Panchbibi, Joypurhat, as the murder site.
After making the murder plans, Quddus Mia told his daughter that he wanted to marry her off to a good man and that they would need to go to Joypurhat. Trusting her father, Parul agreed. On 22 July, Parul went to Joypurhat with her father. That night, they went to the designated spot.
Her father, Abdul Quddus, and hired killer Mokaddes tied Parul's hands and feet with a scarf and strangled her with a towel. Quddus Mia then dumped Parul’s body in the Tulshiganga River and returned to Tangail that night. Mokaddes, a longtime resident of the area, was familiar with its seclusion, having lived there for 25 years and having been involved in theft and other crimes.
Investigators label this incident as an “honour killing.” Honour killing is the murder of a family member under the pretense of protecting the family’s honour, often motivated by elopement, opposing family decisions, or violating social norms. Such killings are common in Pakistan and some Indian states. However, these incidents are less frequent in Bangladesh, though they do occur sporadically.
During the interrogation, the girl's father told the investigators that the daughter had married against the family's wishes. This brought "dishonour" to him and his family. In his anger, he killed his daughter and attempted to frame his son-in-law. To hide his crime, he filed a case against his son-in-law.
Mystery of the murder uncovered through mobile phone clues
The investigation into Parul Akter’s murder was led by SI Biswajit Biswas, then a sub-inspector at the PBI, in Dhaka. He is currently serving as an SI in Gazipur district PBI. Last Friday, in an interview with Prothom Alo, he explained that Parul had spoken to a mobile number before leaving her husband. At the time, this number was used by Parul’s father. However, after Parul's murder, he deactivated the number, and her family denied its existence.
In a re-investigation seven and a half years later, it was found that the number was currently being used by a garment worker in Rangpur, with no known ties to Parul or her family. As the number was not used for a long time, the phone company had resold the number. After interviewing 22 family members, investigators confirmed the number’s link to Parul’s father.
SI Biswajit Biswas stated that following this, they extensively interrogated Abdul Quddus who eventually confessed to the murder and disposal of his daughter’s body.
Father’s relentless effort to frame Parul’s husband
After killing Parul, Quddus Mia filed a lawsuit at a Tangail district court. In this lawsuit, he named Parul’s husband, Nasir Uddin, as the accused.
Quddus Mia alleged in his lawsuit that after eloping, Parul was living with her husband, Nasir, in Jamgora, Ashulia. Due to a long communication gap with his daughter, he managed to find her address.
On 28 July 2015, he visited the Jamgora address. While he found Parul’s husband, Nasir, he didn’t find his daughter there. Upon questioning Nasir about Parul, he couldn’t provide a satisfactory answer. Subsequently, he returned to Tangail and filed a lawsuit.
PBI mentioned that Kalihati Police Station, Tangail district Detective Police, PBI, and CID investigated this case. All agencies submitted final reports to the court. Each time, Quddus Mia objected. The court dismissed Quddus Mia’s objection to the final report submitted by CID. He then appealed against it, which led to a judicial inquiry. Citing this inquiry report, Quddus Mia filed a complaint with the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Dhaka. The court then instructed Ashulia Police Station to register the case and ordered the PBI to conduct an investigation.
On 1 December 2022, a case was filed at Ashulia Police Station against Parul Akter’s husband, Nasir Uddin, and his uncle. PBI arrested both, but their involvement wasn’t found during the investigation. Instead, the involvement of the plaintiff, Quddus Mia, and his friend, the hired killer Mokaddes alias Moka the dacoit, emerged. Consequently, PBI acquitted Nasir Uddin from the case.
Investigators label this incident as an “honour killing.” Honour killing is the murder of a family member under the pretense of protecting the family’s honour, often motivated by elopement, opposing family decisions, or violating social norms. Such killings are common in Pakistan and some Indian states. However, these incidents are less frequent in Bangladesh, though they do occur sporadically.
Discovery of Parul’s body
Once the murder was confirmed, PBI officers began searching for Parul Akter’s body. Based on Abdul Quddus' confession, they went to Panchbibi Police Station. Reviewing the station records, they found that on 23 July 2015, an unidentified woman’s body was discovered in the Tulshiganga River in Kalindpur, Panchbibi. The police filed a murder case the same day, but the woman’s identity remained unknown, leading the police to submit a final report to the court on 19 October 2019.
PBI officials suspected that the unidentified woman’s body was Parul Akter. A DNA test confirmed the body was indeed Parul Akter’s. Later, Bogura district PBI applied to the court to revive the unidentified woman murder case in Panchbibi. The court revived the case, which Bogura district PBI investigated, and filed a charge sheet on 5 September 2019. The charge sheet implicated Abdul Quddus, Parul’s father, and hired killer Mokaddes in her murder. The trial for this case is currently ongoing in a court in Bogura.