Fugitive arrested within eight hours of child assault in Rajshahi

A twenty-two-year-old man has been arrested in Rajshahi following the brutal sexual assault of a seven-year-old child in Charghat Upazila. The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB-5) apprehended the primary suspect within eight hours of a criminal case being registered by the victim’s family.

The suspect, identified as Deb Chandra Das, a resident of the Arjisadipur area in Charghat, allegedly lured his young neighbour into his residence on Wednesday before subjecting her to a forced assault. Details of the rapid-response law enforcement operation were shared during a formal press briefing held on Thursday morning, 9 July, at the RAB-5 headquarters in Rajshahi.

Exploitation of trust and immediate medical response

According to details provided by Company Commander Major Monzurul Kabir during the press conference, the incident took place on Wednesday morning. The suspect approached the young child under the guise of offering her snacks and letting her watch television inside his house. Once the victim entered the empty premises, Deb Chandra Das used severe intimidation tactics and threats of physical harm to overcome her resistance and execute the assault.

The child’s mother grew alarmed when her daughter failed to return home after an extended period. During a desperate search of the immediate neighbourhood, the mother tracked the victim to the suspect’s residence and retrieved her. Upon noticing her daughter’s extreme distress and uncontrollable crying, the mother questioned her, revealing the full extent of the physical trauma. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, the family rushed the child to the Charghat Upazila Health Complex, from where she was quickly transferred to the specialised One-Stop Crisis Centre (OCC) at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) for emergency medical care.

Swift overnight manhunt ends in metropolitan arrest

Following the medical admission, the victim’s father went to the Charghat Police Station on Wednesday afternoon to lodge a formal first information report (FIR). The case was registered under the strict statutory provisions of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, naming Deb Chandra Das as the sole accused party.

The formal registration of the case triggered an immediate collaborative manhunt. Elite units of RAB-5 deployed multiple plainclothes tracking teams to monitor regional transport hubs and suspected escape routes. Acting on real-time intelligence indicating that the suspect had fled the rural locality to hide within the metropolitan limits, tracking teams pinpointed his location. At approximately 3:30 am on Thursday, an operational squad ambushed the suspect in front of the Magic Lantern School within the Motihar Police Station area of Rajshahi city.

During the press briefing, Major Monzurul Kabir confirmed that the detained suspect had yielded to initial interrogation and confessed to his direct involvement in the crime. Following the completion of standard administrative and profiling protocols at the elite force’s headquarters, RAB officials formally transferred custody of Deb Chandra Das back to the Charghat Police Station. Local prosecutors are currently processing the paperwork to present the suspect before the Rajshahi District Court to secure a formal judicial detention order pending trial.