Police Dismiss Murder Accused Statements As Delay Tactics

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police have dismissed fresh claims made by the prime suspect in the rape and dismemberment murder of a young girl in the Pallabi area of Mirpur, Dhaka. Investigators state that the suspect introduced a new individual into the narrative solely to obstruct and delay the judicial proceedings.

On Monday, 1 June 2026, the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Pallabi Police Station, Hasan Basir, clarified the state’s position regarding the sudden courtroom assertions made by the principal accused, Sohel Rana. The police administration maintained that the new allegations are completely unfounded and contradictory to the verified evidence collected from the crime scene.

Direct Eyewitness Evidence and Initial Police Investigation

According to OC Hasan Basir, numerous local residents directly witnessed Sohel Rana escaping from the crime scene on the day of the murder. Witnesses observed the suspect breaking the iron window grills of his rented flat to flee the premises unassisted. Following a comprehensive investigation, the police department compiled and submitted its formal charge sheet to the court. The empirical findings of the investigation established no evidence of external involvement, concluding that only the principal accused and his wife were party to the crime.

The police administration attributed the suspect’s sudden change in narrative to illicit legal counseling received within the correctional facility. OC Hasan Basir noted that prisons house various categories of offender, and it is highly probable that a fellow inmate advised Sohel Rana that implicating an imaginary or separate person would systematically disrupt and prolong the trial process.

Another law enforcement official corroborated this assessment, stating that whether delivered in earnest or otherwise, the suspect was clearly instructed by another detainee to introduce a new name to manipulate the judicial timeline. The police reiterated that the alleged involvement of an individual named ‘Dollar’ is entirely fabricated and factually untruthful.

Courtroom Assertions and Formal Indictment

The administrative clarifications followed dramatic scenes in the courtroom on Monday, 1 June, where the primary accused, Sohel Rana, stood in the dock and made a conditional admission of guilt. The suspect explicitly stated before the court that he did not perpetrate the rape but only dismembered the corpse, alleging instead that an individual named ‘Dollar’ committed the assault.

Sohel Rana further claimed that he had been promised a financial sum of 200,000 Bangladeshi Taka by the named individual if he successfully delivered the young girl to him. The suspect concluded his courtroom statement by acknowledging his participation in the mutilation of the body and requesting punishment for his actions.

Despite these assertions, Judge Masrur Salekin of the Dhaka Prevention of Violence Against Children Tribunal rejected any alterations to the state’s case file. The tribunal formally framed criminal charges against the accused individuals, marking the official commencement of the trial. The court subsequently scheduled Tuesday, 2 June 2026, for the immediate deposition of prosecution witnesses.

Investigation Timeline and Specific Criminal Charges

The formal indictment follows the submission of the police charge sheet on 25 May 2026 by the case’s investigating officer, Sub-Inspector Ahiduzzaman of Pallabi Police Station. On the same date, the magisterial court transferred the case files to the specialised children’s tribunal for trial, setting the subsequent Monday for the indictment hearing.

The state’s official charge sheet prosecutes Sohel Rana for the direct rape and murder of the child, Ramisa, whilst his spouse, Swapna Akhter, stands accused of actively abetting and assisting in the execution of the crime.

The documented chronology of the crime reveals that on 19 May 2026, at approximately 09:30 hours, the victim departed from her family home. The principal suspect, Sohel Rana, reportedly used deception to lure the child into his residential flat. By 10:30 hours, the victim’s mother began searching the building as the child was due to depart for school.

During her search, the mother discovered her daughter’s shoes placed directly outside the entrance of Sohel Rana’s flat. Receiving no response to her repeated knocks, she gathered her spouse and other residential tenants from the building to break open the locked door.

Upon entering the apartment, the search party discovered the decapitated torso of the victim lying on the bedroom floor, whilst her severed head was found hidden inside a large paint bucket within the room. The suspect’s wife, Swapna Akhter, was present in the room when the tenants breached the entrance.

When confronted and questioned by the residents, Swapna Akhter confessed that her husband, Sohel Rana, had confined the young girl in their bathroom, raped her, and subsequently slit her throat. To systematically conceal the homicide, Sohel Rana, with the direct assistance of his wife, utilised a sharp knife to completely sever the head from the neck, severely mutilated the victim’s genitalia, and partially severed both arms from the shoulders. The couple then transported the dismembered remains from the bathroom to the bedroom, concealing the torso beneath the bed.

Arrests and Judicial Confessions

Following the discovery of the remains, the building residents alerted law enforcement authorities via the national emergency response number, 999. A police team immediately arrived at the location, took Swapna Akhter into formal custody, and recovered the biological evidence. The principal suspect, Sohel Rana, who had fled through the broken window grills, was subsequently tracked and apprehended by a police detachment outside the Fatullah Police Station in the Narayanganj District.

The victim’s father filed a formal murder case at Pallabi Police Station. On 21 May 2026, Sohel Rana was produced before a metropolitan magistrate, where he voluntarily recorded a confessional statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, detailing his involvement before being remanded to prison.

The victim’s family lived as tenants in a rented flat located in Section 11, Block B of the Pallabi neighbourhood. The father is employed at a private commercial office in the Banani area of the capital. The accused couple, Sohel Rana and Swapna Akhter, resided as neighbours in a separate flat within the exact same residential building. The deceased child, Ramisa, was a standard-two student at the Popular Model High School.