PBI to take over case of missing Khulna woman

A Khulna court has ordered the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to take over the probe into the case of a 55-year-old woman who has been missing since August 27.

The court's direction came in the wake of an appeal from the woman's family.

On August 27, Rahima Begum went missing after she had stepped out to fetch water near her home in the Banikpara area of Doulatpara upazila in Khulna around 10pm. Her children found her sandals, scarf and the pitcher she was carrying from the spot.

The family first filed a complaint with the police, based on which an FIR was lodged by the cops against some people.

On September 13, after Rahima remained missing for 17 days and police failed to find her, her younger daughter Aduri Akter appealed to the Khulna court to transfer the case to the PBI, said Rahima’s elder daughter Mariyam Mannan.

The same day the court ordered the police to hand over the case to the PBI, but the cops are yet to comply with the order, she said.

When asked, Nazrul Islam, officer-in-charge of Doulatpur police station, said, “We have received the order and the case document will be handed over when PBI asks for it.”

So far, six people have been arrested in this case. They are Rahima’s second husband Belal Howladar, Mohiuddin, Palash, Jewel, Helal Sharif, and assistant engineer at Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) Golam Kibria.

As the case will now be investigated by the PBI, a remand appeal made by the police to interrogate Rahima’s second husband Belal remains pending for hearing, said the OC.

Rahima’s daughter Mariyam, in a Facebook post on Thursday, said that they have been sticking 'missing' posters in Khulna city in the hope they will get their mother back.