PBI arrests man over murder committed 6 years ago

The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) has arrested a man in connection with the murder of a young woman committed six years ago.

The accused was identified as Rezaul Karim Swapan, a former member of Bangladesh Navy. He was arrested at the Comilla Export Processing Zone (EPZ) area on Friday.

At a press conference at the PBI head office in Dhanmondi on Saturday, PBI chief Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Banaj Kumar Majumder said Swapan had confessed to the murder in court.

The body of the victim was found inside a trunk on a bus that reached Gabtoli bus terminal from Chittagong on May 3, 2015. Police filed a case over the matter with Darussalam police station.

Attempts to identify the body initially failed and the body was eventually buried as anonymous. Darussalam police investigated the case for three months and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for four years but could not identify the victim.

PBI took charge of the case after the court issued an order in 2019. 

After examining over a hundred general diaries (GDs) over missing persons filed in 2015, PBI identified the victim as Shampa Begum. She had been reported missing in a GD filed with Pahartali police station in Chittagong on June 10 that year.  

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The GD had been filed by Abdul Mannan, the victim’s brother-in-law.

Quoting the investigating officer of the case, the PBI chief said Shampa and Swapan became acquainted with each other and entered into a relationship while the latter was at Titumir naval base in 2013. They lived together at several different locations, including with Shampa’s aunt and at hotels, before subletting a house in the North Greenview residential area of Pahartali.

After living together for about two years, the couple got into an argument in May 2015.

“After the argument, Swapan strangled Shampa with a scarf on May 2, 2015. He then bought a bus ticket and loaded the trunk with the body on an Eagle Paribahan bus, telling the driver that the trunk would be picked up at the next stop.

“Swapan also lied to Shampa’s father and told him she had boarded a bus for Khulna,” he added.

When Shampa could not be found, her brother-in-law filed the GD. On March 27, 2015, the victim’s father, retired army officer Ilias Sheikh, lodged a written complaint against Swapan with the navy office in Chittagong.

Swapan was sent into compulsory retirement in 2019, though navy officials declined to disclose why.