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Published : 21 May 2026, 05:43 PM
A Dhaka court has granted police five days to interrogate 20-year-old madrasa student over the “rape” and abetment to “suicide” of a 10-year-old boy in Dhaka’s Rampura.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Hasibuzzaman passed the order on Thursday following a police petition, Prosecution Police Sub-Inspector Abul Kalam Azad said.
The suspect Shihab Hossain was arrested by police on Wednesday night from Khakchara village under Bera Police Station in Pabna District.
The victim's body was recovered on Tuesday night.
Police found the body of the victim, who was also a madrasa student, hanging by a towel inside the Alokito Quran International Hifz Madrasa in Block C of Banasree, Rampura.
The body was subsequently sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for a postmortem.
Following an initial investigation that implicated Shihab, the victim's mother filed a case at the Rampura Police Station on Wednesday, charging him with rape and abetment to suicide.
Several unidentified individuals were also named as suspects in the case.
Mohammad Harun Or Rashid, deputy commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Motijheel Division, said physical evidence pointed to severe abuse before the child's death.
"Signs of unnatural sexual assault were detected during the preparation of the inquest report on the victim's body," DC Harun said.
"During initial questioning, the madrasa management admitted that Shihab had previously faced allegations of sexually abusing four other students at the institution."
The police officer added that, acting on law enforcement's advice, the madrasa authorities had already lodged a separate case against Shihab with Rampura Police on Tuesday over the past incidents.
Investigators revealed that Shihab had left the madrasa and fled to his ancestral home in Pabna before the victim's body was discovered hanging.
On Thursday morning, the investigation officer, Sub-Inspector Saiful Islam of Rampura Police Station, produced Shihab in court requesting seven days to interrogate the suspect in custody.
Arguing in favour of the remand, Dhaka Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Omar Faruq Faruqi described the incident as a disgrace to the nation.
"Such recurring incidents in madrasas are deeply shameful for the country and society. They deal a massive blow to our education system," Faruq argued, demanding the maximum period of custody to uncover the full extent of the crime.
Shihab did not have a legal representative in court.
