Boy dies from terrible injuries after ex-employer pumps air into his body in Khulna

Barely a month after the chilling murder of Sylhet teen Samiul Alam Rajan, Bangladesh has seen another appalling murder of a 12-year-old boy in Khulna.

This time,Rakib Hawladar’s former co-workers inserted a high-pressure air pump nozzle into his rectum and filled the body with air at a motorcycle repair shop, police said.

The horrific assault happened in the city’s Tutparha Kabarkhana around 10pm on Monday.

Locals caught the repair shop owner ‘Sharif’, 35, his uncle Mintu Mia, 40 and Sharif's mother Beauty Begum, 55.

They beat them up before turning them over to police.

Khulna Sadar Police Station OC Sukumar Biswas said Rakib, son of Md Alam from Central Road, was a worker at the garage.

The boy left the garage recently and started working at another garage near PTI intersection, much to the annoyance of Mia.

Mia called him to the garage on Monday night when he was walking past the repair shop, the police officer said.

“He stripped the boy naked, pushed a mechanical tyre pumper into his rectum and forced air into the body. Several parts of Rakib’s body, including the abdomen, swelled at the time,” Biswas said.

When Rakib fell ill, Mia and Sharif tried to let the gas out, but failed.

They took the boy to a nearby private clinic then.

He was sent to the Khulna Medical College and Hospital later when his condition worsened, police said.

Rakib died when he was taken to an ambulance for Dhaka.

“His intestines were torn apart and lungs burst by the abnormally high pressure of air that filled his body. He died from multiple organ failure,” OC Biswas said, referring to doctors.

The body was kept at the hospital’s mortuary for post-mortem examination.

Mia and Sharif were admitted to the hospital under police custody.

Beauty Begum did not save the boy, though she was present at the scene, the OC said.

On July 8 in Sylhet, Rajan was beaten by metal rod to death on the flimsy accusation of stealing a rickshaw-van.

The murderers posted the video on a social networking site, triggering Bangladesh-wide outrage.