DNA profiling and surveillance lead to arrest in 2022 Faridpur child murder case
Photo Collected
A grisly discovery on the banks of the Chandana-Barasia River in Faridpur has led to the resolution of a haunting murder case that remained unsolved for months. In late December 2022, local police recovered a bag containing skeletal remains, including a skull and teeth, from the riverbank in the Madhukhali area. Initial forensic examinations and local inquiries failed to identify the victim, prompting the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to take over the case in February 2023.
The breakthrough came after investigators cross-referenced the discovery with a missing person’s report filed six months earlier by Iti Begum, who had reported her 11-year-old son, Mursalin Sheikh, missing. PBI investigators collected DNA samples from the mother, which were later matched against the skeletal remains, confirming the identity of the victim.
With the victim identified, suspicion turned toward Mursalin’s stepfather, Mizanur Rahman, who had abruptly fled the area shortly after the disappearance. PBI investigators employed a psychological strategy, contacting the suspect’s parents to inform them of the mounting evidence and the certainty of his eventual arrest. This pressure led to a recorded phone conversation between Mizanur and his father, in which the suspect’s involvement became clear.
Following his arrest in Magura in July 2023, Mizanur confessed to the killing. According to investigators, the motive was rooted in domestic turmoil. Mizanur had married Iti Begum in 2019, but the union was plagued by poverty and conflict, exacerbated by tensions with Mizanur’s first wife. In June 2022, following a domestic dispute, Iti left the area with her younger child, leaving Mursalin in the care of his grandmother.
Mizanur testified that he encountered 11-year-old Mursalin on June 25, 2022, while working near the river. When the boy could not—or would not—provide information about his mother’s whereabouts, a confrontation ensued. Mizanur struck the child, causing fatal injuries. Panicked, he hid the body in a thicket before returning at night to transport the remains in a sack to the river, hoping the current would carry the evidence away and permanently obscure the crime.
PBI Chief and Additional Inspector General Mostafa Kamal noted that while there were no eyewitnesses to the murder, the synthesis of circumstantial evidence, forensic DNA results, and the suspect’s formal confession successfully dismantled the cover-up. Despite the perpetrator’s elaborate attempts to erase the child’s identity, the skeletal evidence provided the final link needed to bring the case to justice.
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