A woman was found dead inside a trunk at the capital’s Gabtoli bus terminal in 2015. The trunk was shipped to Dhaka from Chattogram.
As the identity of the woman was unknown, the body was buried as an unclaimed one after an autopsy.
Six years later, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) identified the woman and unveiled the mystery. The PBI also identified a man as the prime accused behind the death, reports UNB.
The prime accused, Rezaul Karim Shwapon, was arrested from the Cumilla EPZ area on Friday morning. He was an official of the Bangladesh Navy and was expelled from the force due to various allegations.
The deceased was Shampa Begum, daughter of Ilias Sheikh a medical assistant hailing from Khulna.
On March 5 in 2015, a man collected a ticket of a Dhaka-bound bus of Eagle Pribahan from Chattogram and kept a trunk in the cargo box of the bus. But he didn’t get on the bus, according to PBI.
The bus reached Gabtoli bus around 5:45 pm on that day. Then the driver and his assistant found the trunk and informed the police out of suspicion. Police recovered the body and sent it for an autopsy.
As the identity of the woman was unidentified, the body was buried as an unclaimed one and sub-inspector Jahanur Ali filed a case at Darussalam police station in this regard.
After three months of investigation by police and another four years of investigation by the Crime Investigation Department (CID), a report on the case was submitted to a court.
As the victim remained unidentified, the court rejected the report and directed to hand over the case to PBI for further investigation in 2019.
The PBI investigation found Shampa was acquainted with Rezaul Karim Shwapon in 2013 and a relationship developed between them. But Rezaul did not agree to marry her despite maintaining relations.
They rented a room in the South Green View area under Pahartali police station in Chattogram and stayed there from 2014 to May, 2015.
Accused Rezaul confessed to killing Shampa by strangulation on March 2, 2015, and later hid the body in the trunk.
Rezaul informed Shampa’s family that he had sent her off to Khulna by a bus.
As she didn’t reach Khulna, her family filed a missing diary and later filed a complaint with Chattogram Naval office against Rezaul.
In 2019, Razaul was sent to forced retirement, said PBI.