Crime Desk, dbarta24.com – A Dhaka court has sentenced the prime accused, Sohel Rana, and his wife, Swapna Akhtar, to death for the rape and murder of an eight-year-old child in the capital’s Pallabi area.
Judge Masrur Salekin of the Dhaka Metropolitan Child Violence Suppression Tribunal announced the verdict on Sunday in the presence of the defendants.
The court found both individuals guilty of the rape and murder charges. The judge read out the verdict from 11:05 AM to 11:38 AM, during which both convicts broke into tears in the dock.
Earlier at 8:45 AM, Sohel Rana and Swapna Akhtar were brought to the Dhaka Metropolitan Court premises from the prison in a security van and subsequently produced before the courtroom.
Additional police forces were deployed around the court area, and law enforcement personnel remained on high alert to avoid any untoward situations.
The court fixed the date for the verdict on Thursday in the presence of the accused. Notably, the court delivered this judgment just 19 days after the brutal murder took place.
Special Public Prosecutor (PP) Azizur Rahman Dulu stood for the state, while state-appointed defense lawyer Musa Kalimullah and Dhaka Metropolitan Judge Court PP Omar Faruq Faruqi, among other lawyers, were present during the hearing.
On May 19, police recovered the body of the school-going child from a flat in a building located at Block B, Section 11 of Pallabi. According to the police, Sohel Rana (32), a resident of an adjacent flat, slit the child’s throat and severed her head from the body earlier that morning.
He then escaped by cutting through a window grill. However, his wife, Swapna Akhtar, remained in the house and was subsequently detained by the police.
Following the incident, the victim’s father filed a murder case at the Pallabi Police Station, accusing the couple. Sohel was later arrested in Fatullah, Narayanganj, and gave a confessional statement before the court admitting his direct involvement in the killing.
After a swift five-day investigation, the investigating officer, Sub-Inspector (SI) Ohiduzzaman of Pallabi Police Station, submitted the charge sheet on May 24, naming both Sohel Rana and Swapna as the accused.
To ensure a speedy trial for this highly discussed case, the court processed the charge sheet on the day of its submission and transferred it to the Child Violence Suppression Tribunal.
On June 1, the judge framed charges against the accused to initiate the trial. The depositions and cross-examinations of 16 witnesses were completed in a single day.
Following the defendants’ self-defense testimonies on Wednesday and closing arguments on Thursday, the case moved to its final verdict.