A Correspondent:
Sylhet: Police have arrested three more people in connection with the murder of the six-year-old Muntaha Aktar Jerin.
The arrestees were identified as Islam Uddin, Nizam Uddin and Nazma Begum.
Abdul Awal, officer-in-charge of Kanaighat Police Station, said police arrested them from the house of one of their relatives on Sunday.
With this, six people have so far been arrested in this connection.
The body of six-year-old Muntaha Aktar Jerin, daughter of Shamim Ahmed of Bharafoud village under Birdal union of Kanaighat upazila was recovered in Sylhet’s Kanaighat upazila early Sunday, said po-lice.
There were marks of injuries in the body and her throat was tied with ropes, OC said.
Local people caught Alifjan Bibi while trying to throw the body into a pond early Sunday, said police.
The skull of Muntaha was already decomposed and the whole body was wrapped in mud as they buried the body one week ago.
Police arrested three women including Muntaha’s house tutor Shamima Begum Marzia, her mother Alifjan Bibi and Kutubjan, mother of Alifjan.
As local people conducted a hectic search for Muntaha, Alifjan tried to dump the body into a pond to turn the murder in another way.
Soon after the recovery of the body of Muntaha, local people dismantled the house of Marzia and set the house on fire.
The victim’s father alleged that Muntaha was abducted in a planned way while they lodged a general diary with the police station in this regard.
Muntaha had been missing since November 3, after she went out in the afternoon to play with other children. Despite searches throughout the area family members failed to trace her.
The family also took to social media seeking public help to find the girl. They announced a bounty of Tk 100, 000 for anyone who finds her.
Afsar Uddin Ahmed, chairman of Kanaighat Sadar Union Parishad, said police picked up Marzia for interrogation on Saturday.
As per the advice of the police, local people were checking whether there was any digging around Mar-zia’s house.
“They buried the body of Muntaha and tried to throw the body on the pond, near their house,” said Chairman Afsar.
Marzia’s mother and grandmother used to beg from door to door and Marzia’s husband abandoned her.
Marzia used to take Muntaha with her when she had gone outside and that’s why everybody trusts her.
However, the reason behind the murder could not be known immediately but Marzia recently developed an enmity with Muntaha’s family.
“The motive of the killers was to drive the main reason by attempting to throw the body of Muntaha in the pond, according to the accused,” said OC.
During interrogation, Marzia and her mother admitted their guilt of killing Muntaha, he said.
Meanwhile, Md Rafiqul Islam, additional superintendent of Sylhet police, said according to the confes-sional statement, Muntaha was strangled to death on November 3 and dumped into the water body.
Police suspected that Marzia killed the girl as her parents relieved her from being a house tutor, he said.
The body was sent to the Sylhet Osmani Medical College and Hospital morgue for autopsy.
Meanwhile, Muntaha’s family claimed that she was abducted in a ‘planned away’.
