Mystery shrouds death of university student Rumpa in Dhaka’s Siddheswari

Police are struggling to crack the case as to how the body of Rubaiyat Sharmin Rumpa, a private university student, ended up on a street in Dhaka’s Siddheswari on Wednesday night.

She fell from any multi-storey building on the alley of Siddheswari Circular Road, her first inquest report suggests. Police are now waiting for the post-mortem examination report to confirm whether it was a murder, or suicide or accident.

Police have opened investigation believing Rumpa’s death to be a murder, quizzing related people and checking the call list of her mobile phone.

But questions like why the 20-year-old left her earrings, ring, mobile phone and new sandals at home remain unanswered.

Her brother Ashraful Alam, a class 12 student of a college in the capital, suspects it was a planned murder while one of her friends pointed the finger at her former boyfriend.

The teachers and students of Stamford University, where Rumpa was a first-year undergraduate student at English department, rallied and formed a human chain demanding proper investigation.

“We are investigating the case considering the possibilities that it was a murder. More than 50 people have been quizzed so far. But we are waiting for the post-mortem examination report to confirm whether it was a murder or suicide,” SM Shamim, an assistant commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told bdnews24.com.

Students of Stamford University organised a human-chain demonstration outside their Siddheswari campus in Dhaka on Friday against the alleged murder of their peer Rubaiyat Sharmin Rumpa.

Rumpa’s father Rokon Uddin is a police inspector posted in Habiganj while his wife and two children lived at Shantibagh in the capital, around half a kilometre from the alley where the body was found.

Ramna Police Station Sub-Inspector Abul Khayer started a murder case against unidentified people after the body was found.

Her family identified the body later on Thursday by a photo of the body at the police station.

They said Rumpa used to tutor two students. She left home on Wednesday afternoon for tuition.

She returned around 6:30pm, but instead of entering home, she called her family and asked them to send a pair of old sandals.

When one of her cousins delivered the sandals, she gave him her new sandals, earrings, ring and mobile phone before leaving again.

Police recovered the body a few hours later on the alley behind Ayesha Complex opposite the Criminal Investigation Department headquarters of police in Malibagh.

The law enforcers had no clue why she had sent back her belongings, Ramna Police Station OC Monirul Islam said.

Plaintiff Khayer said there were wounds on the head, chest and other parts of the body while her backbone and right foot were broken.

Sohel Mahmud, a forensic doctor at Dhaka Medical College Hospital who conducted the post-mortem test, said: “It initially appears that she died after falling from a high place.”

The doctors have collected samples to check whether she had been raped, he added.

AC Shamim said Rumpa could fall from any of the three nearby buildings, including Ayesha Complex.

“But no resident of these buildings could identify her. No relative of Rumpa lives there. Some of the residents said they heard a sound as if something heavy had fallen,” he said.

“It’s difficult to say now whether she fell or was thrown after torture,” he added.

Students of Stamford University organised a human-chain demonstration outside their Siddheswari campus in Dhaka on Friday against the alleged murder of their peer Rubaiyat Sharmin Rumpa.

Police have also collected security camera footage of the area and Rumpa’s mobile phone to check whom she had talked to recently.

One of Rumpa’s classmates and friends told a TV station that Rumpa had been seeing a young man for several months, but they broke up recently.

Somoy TV also aired an audio of a conversation with Rumpa’s so-called ex-boyfriend.

He met her on the day of the incident, he told the TV station.

“I attended a birthday party of a friend on the 4th. I told Rumpa that a relationship between us was not possible,” he told Somoy.

The building in front of which Rumpa’s body was found houses some students of the university. They live on the ground and second floors, but no one could give any information about her.

Her brother Ashraful said she has been buried at their village in Mymensingh’s Bijoynagar.

“It’s a planned murder. Why did my sister go to that place at Siddheswari? Her classmates might be involved in it,” he said.