Based on their preliminary findings, Khagrachhari police have confirmed that 10-year-old Punati Tripura Krittika of the Tripura ethnic community from the district’s Dighinala upazila was raped and murdered.
On Tuesday, the district’s Superintendent of Police, Ali Ahmed Khan, told the Dhaka Tribune that their inquest and other relative findings indicated the child was raped before she was murdered in a barbaric manner.
His take on the matter comes before test results of the s the deceased victim are submitted by the team formed by Khagrachhari Sadar Hospital.
The four-member team was formed on Sunday with the hospital’s Resident Medical Officer, Dr Noyonmoy Tripura, as its chief.
Police officials carrying the body of Punati Tripura on their way to hand it over to her family on July 29, 2018, a day after she was raped and killed in Dighinala upazila's Noymile area at Khagrachhari | Dhaka Tribune
He said: “One of the causes of Punati’s death for sure was excessive haemorrhaging from sharp weapon wounds on her throat, both hands, and waist.”
Noyonmoy, however, did not say when they will submit their findings.
Fifth-grader Punati’s mutilated body was found on Saturday night in the jungle near Tapan Karabari Para where her family lives in Merung union’s Noymile area of Dighinala.
Three arrested
Meanwhile, police on Monday arrested three youths for their suspected involvement in Punati’s rape and murder.
Khagrachhari’s Additional Superintendent of Police, MM Salahuddin, identified them as Shah Alam, 33, Nazrul Islam, 32, of Boro Merung area, and Monir Hossain, 38, of Madhya Boalkhali.
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The victim’s mother, Anumoti Tripura, lodged a case with Dighinala police station on Sunday night.
Showing them arrested for that case, police on Tuesday also presented the three youths before a Khagrachhari court and sought a seven-day remand for each of them.
The court, however, fixed Thursday to hear the plea and ordered the suspects to be jailed till then.
SP Ali Ahmed said: “We will know more once we interrogate the suspects.”
“We have collected much evidence and made some progress. We are giving investigation of this case a priority,” he added.
Protests continue
Since Punati’s murder on Saturday night, there have been demonstrations in Khagrachhari and other parts of the country, protesting the barbaric crime and demanding exemplary punishment of the perpetrators.
For many hours on Sunday, locals blockaded the Khagrachhari-Dighinala Road at several places using timber and logs.
Protesting against Punati Tripura's rape and murder, Shishu Kishore Mela's district unit organized a human chain in front of Khagrachhari Press Club on July 31, 2018 | Dhaka Tribune
Student fronts and other wings of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (MN Larma), and the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF), also demonstrated in the district town that day.
On Tuesday morning, Shishu Kishore Mela and Samajtantrik Chhatra Front organized a human-chain protest in front of Khagrachhari Press Club, making similar demands.
Earlier, Bangladesh Tripura Kalyan Sangsad’s Education and Cultural Affairs Secretary, Doyananda Tripura, said five teenagers and children were raped in the past three months in Khagrachhari.
