A twenty-one-year-old man has been murdered in Tongi, Gazipur, after being enticed to the industrial zone with the false prospect of employment. Law enforcement agencies have detained the victim’s close acquaintance, thirty-year-old Mazharul Islam Mithu, over his alleged involvement in the abduction and killing. Following disclosures made by the suspect during police questioning, officers recovered the victim’s badly decomposed remains from a disused drainage culvert on the Bishwa Ijtema grounds.
The victim was identified as Akash Sardar, son of Md Karim Sardar, hailing from Chandpur village in Faridpur’s Kotwali precinct. The prime suspect, Mithu, is a resident of Nazirpur village situated in Sonargaon Upazila, Narayanganj. Both men had shared an employment history abroad, having laboured together as overseas workers in Cambodia.
Investigators established that Akash and Mithu had originally journeyed to Cambodia roughly two and a half years ago through a labour broker named Apu Mia, who operates out of Sonargaon. Both returned to Bangladesh approximately three months ago. Unlike his companion, Akash faced persistent difficulties securing stable work upon his return and fell into severe financial distress. Taking advantage of his friend’s precarious situation, Mithu contacted Akash with an offer of well-paid employment, persuading him to travel to Sonargaon on 27 July.
Police case records state that upon arriving at the rendezvous point, Akash was seized by an organised group and forcibly transported to Tongi. That evening at around 7:00 PM, an unidentified caller identifying himself as Suman rang Akash’s wife, Jerin, over WhatsApp, declaring that her husband had been taken hostage. The phone line was abruptly severed, and Akash’s handset was switched off immediately thereafter.
When frantic inquiries across several districts yielded no trace of his whereabouts, Akash’s father approached the authorities and lodged a formal kidnapping complaint with Faridpur Kotwali Police Station. The initial first information report named Mithu, Apu Mia, and Suman Mia as named suspects, alongside two to three unidentified accomplices.
A significant operational breakthrough followed when an elite unit from the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB-1) raided a hideout within the jurisdiction of Tongi West Police Station on 23 August, securing Mithu’s arrest. During intense interrogation, Mithu admitted to his role in the killing and directed detectives to the location where the body had been concealed. On Monday morning, an investigative team located the victim’s remains inside an abandoned drain near toilet block 21 on the sprawling Ijtema grounds.
Inspector (Investigation) Md Yanur Rahman of Tongi West Police Station stated that the remains have been transferred to the morgue at Gazipur’s Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem examination. Formal legal measures are progressing as detectives continue their manhunt for the remaining accomplices.
