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Published : 18 Jun 2026, 07:33 PM
Police in Chattogram’s Patiya Upazila believe that 5-year-old Zayan was murdered in a bid to falsely implicate a neighbouring family in a land dispute, after recovering the child’s body and arresting three suspects.
On Thursday, officials said the arrested trio had a longstanding dispute over land with another family, who investigators now suspect were the intended targets of the false accusation.
Those arrested include Sadia Sultana Niha, 19, an HSC examinee, along with her father Md Saifuddin, 39, a mason, and mother Shahnur Akhtar, 35.
Zayan, son of garage owner identified only as Shahjahan, went missing on Tuesday afternoon from near his home.
Shortly after his disappearance, his family received a handwritten note demanding a ransom.
His body was recovered by police around 3am on Thursday.
At a press briefing on Thursday, Chattogram District Superintendent of Police Masud Alam said Niha, a neighbour referred to as the child’s paternal aunt, had spent time playing football with Zayan on Tuesday before allegedly taking him inside her home and killing him.
The body was later packed into two sacks and dumped behind the house in a waste area, he said.
The SP said Niha, along with her parents and brother, was detained on Wednesday and later taken to the police station, where she confessed to the crime during interrogation.
“About one and a half hours after kidnapping the child, he was killed,” he said, adding that investigators believe Niha’s parents were aware of the killing but tried to conceal it.
The body was recovered from behind their house based on her confession.
Describing the case as initially “largely clue-less”, the SP said investigators first searched multiple neighbouring houses after the ransom note surfaced.
Similar writing pads and materials used for the note were reportedly found at Niha’s home later.
Handwriting analysis matched the note with Niha, who initially claimed she wrote it under pressure from another neighbour.
However, after being confronted during questioning, she confessed to writing the note and killing the child, he added.
Zayan’s father Shahjahan earlier said he found a ransom note demanding Tk 300,000 hours after his son went missing, warning that the child would be killed if police were informed.
The note also threatened that the family was under surveillance and instructed them to leave money in a bag at a specified location while keeping doors and windows locked.
Patiya Police chief Ziaul Haque said the child was killed shortly after being kidnapped, and investigators initially suspected a neighbour had been framed.
However, interrogation ruled out the involvement of the neighbour initially named by the suspect.
