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Published : 20 May 2026, 08:50 PM
The prime suspect in the brutal “rape and murder” of an 8-year-old schoolgirl in Dhaka's Mirpur has confessed to the crimes before a court.
Sohel Rana, 32, gave his confessional statement before Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Aminul Islam Junaid after being produced in court by investigation officer Sub-Inspector Ohiduzzaman of Pallabi Police on Wednesday.
The court ordered Sohel to be sent to prison.
His wife Swapna Akter, another suspect in the case, was also sent to jail by another Metropolitan Magistrate Ashraful Haq following a police plea to keep her behind bars.
Sohel gave a detailed account of how he “raped” the girl before “killing” her, according to Ohiduzzaman.
The victim Ramisa Akter was a second-grade student at the Popular Model High School.
She lived with her family in Section 11, Block B of Pallabi, where Sohel and his wife lived as sublet tenants in an adjacent flat.
According to the case details, Ramisa left her flat around 9:30am on Tuesday to go to school.
The suspect reportedly lured her into his room on the second floor of the building.
The crime came to light around 10:30am when Ramisa's mother went looking for her as it was time for school. She reportedly noticed her daughter’s sandals left outside the suspect's door.
After receiving no response to repeated knocking, the mother, with the help of other building residents, broke open the door.
Inside, they discovered a harrowing scene: Ramisa’s decapitated body was under the bed, while her severed head was found hidden inside a bucket in the bathroom. The suspect’s wife Swapna was in the flat.
While Swapna was detained from the scene by neighbours and subsequently handed over to police, Sohel managed to escape by cutting through a window grille.
He was tracked down and arrested by police later Tuesday evening in Fatullah in Narayanganj.
Following the recovery of the body, the victim's father Abdul Hannan Mollah filed a murder case at the Pallabi Police Station naming both Sohel and Swapna as suspects.
During initial police interrogation, Swapna said her husband had locked Ramisa in the bathroom, “raped” her, and then “slit her throat”.
Sohel allegedly used a knife to cut her up.
