‘Oishee innocent’

The plaintiff in the case over the murder of police officer Mahfuzur Rahman and his wife told the court that the couple’s daughter, Oishee Rahman, was not involved in the killings.

In his witness deposition on Tuesday, plaintiff Mashiur Rahman, brother of the slain Special Branch officer, claimed that his niece was innocent.

“I strongly believe that my niece did not kill my brother and his wife. My brother was working for the police’s Special Branch (political wing).

"Some miscreant might have killed him over past animosity,” he told the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Jahurul Haque.

Oishee was present at the court while his uncle was testifying and cross-examined by the defence counsel. The two hugged after Rahman left the witness dock.

Rahman asserted that his niece’s birth date is Aug 17, 1996.

On Aug 16 last year, Special Branch Inspector Mahfuzur and his wife Swapna Begum were stabbed to death at their rented flat in Chamelibagh, Malibagh.

Swapna Begum and her husband Special Branch Inspector Mahfuzur Rahman. File Photo.

Police recovered their bodies two days after the crime. The same day, schoolgirl Oishee, 19, surrendered at the Paltan Police Station along with housemaid 'Sumi'.

Later during interrogation, the couple's daughter gave a statement saying she had killed her parents with the help of the housemaid.

On Aug 24 last year, a Dhaka court recorded Oishee's confessional statement but

she pleaded to the court to retract it.

She claimed police had tortured and forced her into giving that statement on Sep 5 the same year.

Investigators also found the involvement of her two friends, 'Rony' and 'Jony'. They were later arrested.

File Photo

They are now in jail along with Oishee, while Sumi is being held in detention at the Juvenile Correction Centre at Gazipur.

After Oishee’s interrogation on remand had triggered a barrage of criticism, police conducted several tests at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital to ascertain her age.

The Detective Branch of police submitted the chargesheet on Mar 9 accusing the four of committing the murders.

After receiving the chargesheet, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Maruf Hossain sent the case to be heard at the Metropolitan Sessions Judges Court.

Police accused the housemaid, Sumi, and Oishee's two friends of abetting her in the crime.

The DNA of Mahfuzur and his wife matched the samples taken from Oishee’s bloodstained clothes and ornaments, said police.

According to the police statement, Oishee mixed sleeping pills in the coffee that her parents drank. As they fell unconscious, she first stabbed to death her mother and then her father.