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Published : 29 Apr 2025, 03:37 PM
A trial over the murder of a Garo woman and her mother in the Kalachandpur area of Dhaka’s Gulshan remains unfinished after seven years.
The case has been sent to another court for age verification as one of the four accused claims to be a "minor", adding more uncertainty to its fate.
The first investigating officer of the case -- then Gulshan police sub-inspector Salauddin Miah -- was scheduled to testify before the court of Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Saifur Rahman on Tuesday, but no case documents were presented at the court.
Prosecutor Jamal Uddin said, "This is a much-discussed case. The case is being tried after the indictments. We have also recorded the testimony of several people. At this stage, one of the accused claims that he was under the age of 18 at the time of the incident.
“The court has sent the case documents to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court for confirmation on the matter. The children's court will decide whether he was a child or not. The trial will resume once the issue is resolved."
The bodies of Garo community members Besset Chiring, 65, and her daughter Sujata Chiring, 40, were recovered from the flat of a multi-storey building in Kalachandpur around 9pm on Mar 20, 2018.
The next day, Sujata’s husband Ashis Mankin initiated a murder case at the Gulshan Police Station.
Sujata's nephew Sanjeeb Chiring has been named as the main suspect in the case.
A police investigation also found that three of Sanjeeb’s friends were involved. The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) later arrested the four from Sherpur’s Nalitabari.
Following their arrest, the RAB said Sanjeeb, along with his friends, had killed his grandmother and aunt to try and rob money for Easter Sunday celebrations. The four also gave confessional statements to the court.
Gulshan Police Station Inspector (Investigation) SM Qayyum submitted the charge sheet against the four on Dec 12, 2019.
Apart from Sanjeeb, the other three accused are Raju Sangma, Prabeen Sangma and the one who claims to be a minor during the incident.
On Apr 13, 2022, the court indicted them and ordered the trial to begin. Amid the recording of testimonies, Shah Imran, the lawyer of that accused, appealed for an age verification.
The lawyer told bdnews24.com, “He was a child at the time of the incident. We have given evidence in court.
"No one was arrested at the scene in the case. The main accused is a relative of the victim. But my client doesn’t have a relationship with them. There are also no specific allegations against him. I hope those attached in the case without any cause will get justice."
When contacted by bdnews24.com, Ashish - the plaintiff in the case - declined to comment on the matter.
According to the complaint, the accused were friends. Raju used to live in Uttara. Sanjeeb, Prabeen and the other suspect came to Dhaka from the village in search of jobs. They began living at Raju's place.
The next day, the three of them went to Raju's workplace near the Kuril intersection. As they did not have money, Sanjeeb planned to steal it from his grandmother's house in Kalachandpur.
According to their plan, they bought a knife from a kitchenware shop in Kalachandpur. On Mar 20, around 10am, two people, including Prabeen, went to Besset’s house but they returned after seeing Sanjeeb's aunt and other family members there.
Sanjeeb and another suspects went to Besset’s house again in the afternoon. Raju and Prabeen joined them afterwards. Sujata’s eldest daughter and a younger one were at home.
The accused gave Tk 200 to Sujata for collecting the traditional alcoholic beverage called Chu.
They had drinks after Sujata's daughter went to work around 4:30pm. At one stage, Sujata fell asleep after drinking too much alcohol.
Later Sanjib tried to open the wardrobes to steal the money.
Besset returned home at that time and was taken to Sujata's room. Raju and two others then “strangled her to death and placed her body under the bed”.
Fearing that Sujata would realise everything after waking up, they also “killed her by slitting her throat”. They later cleaned the knife and left it on the false roof of the bathroom, the probe report read.
Out of 26 witnesses in the case, nine individuals testified in court.
Of the accused, Prabeen is out on bail. The other three accused are behind bars.
