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Published : 17 Jun 2026, 11:34 PM
The abduction, murder, and dismemberment of 5-year-old Alina Islam Ayat in Chattogram city was inspired by television crime shows, a court has said.
Delivering the verdict in the 2022 sensational murder case on Wednesday, Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Muhammad Ali Akkas described the killing as “pre-planned, brutal, ruthless and cruel”.
The judge sentenced Abir Ali to death under Section 302 of the Penal Code, alongside a fine of Tk 100,000.
He was also sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of Tk 5,000 under Section 201.
He killed the daughter of those who raised him, the judge said.
Abir and his family were tenants in a house owned by Ayat’s father. He was also born in that house.
He killed Ayat on the ground floor of the same house, where they had been living for 21 years.
There were no witnesses to the murder and the motive has not been conclusively proven, according to the verdict.
The accusation, however, was substantiated by evidence, including Abir's confessional statement, DNA test results, and the consistency of witness statements, the judge said.
Ayat, the daughter of Sohel Rana, a resident of the port city’s EPZ Thana, was killed on Nov 14, 2022. Her body was then chopped up and thrown into the sea.
The brutal killing sparked nationwide outrage, with an investigation finding that Ayat was killed by her neighbour Abir.
Judge Muhammad Ali Akkas said Abir had confessed to the crime before the verdict.
In his confessional statement, he claimed to have been mentally disturbed due to his father and mother being separated, and losing two jobs, the judge added.
“[Abir] got the idea of how to kidnap and murder and then hide the body after watching Crime Patrol and CID on television,” he added.
“He killed the child of the people who had raised him in the house he had rented since childhood.”
Police recovered a diary from the defendant's rented home, in which he wrote about "dreaming of becoming rich" shortly after the murder, according to the verdict.
The judge said, "Despite two postmortem reports, it is not clear how the child died.”
However, Abir revealed during investigation that he strangled her to death and then put that into a bag.
Later, he took that to his mother’s house on Akmal Ali Road, where he chopped the body into pieces.
In order to “disappear” the body, he then dismembered and dumped it in the Sluice Gate and Bay Terminal areas.
Even though the case alleged that Ayat had been kidnapped for ransom, the judge said Abir did not demand money.
“Therefore, charges against him were framed and he was tried under sections 302 and 201 of the Penal Code for murder and concealment of evidence."
As the judge was reading out the verdict, Ayat’s parents were reduced to tears.
Before that, the victim’s relatives including father Sohel reacted angrily when Abir was produced before the court.
Ayat's relatives and neighbours held a procession with banners and placards demanding the hanging of Abir.
Later, holding his toddler son Ayan, identified with a single name that had been proposed after Ayat, Sohel expressed satisfaction over the verdict.
"We want the murderer to be hanged within a month," he said.
