Ramisa rape and murder: Chargesheet filed against Sohel, wife; indictment hearing 1 June
Sohel has been charged with rape and murder, while his wife, Swapna, has been accused of assisting in the killing.
Police have submitted a chargesheet to the court accusing Sohel Rana and his wife Swapna Akhter in connection with the rape and subsequent murder of a minor girl, Ramisa Akhter, in the capital's Pallabi area.
Pallabi Police Station Sub-Inspector Ohiduzzaman, the investigating officer of the case, submitted the chargesheet today (24 May).
"The allegations of rape and subsequent murder against Sohel Rana, and the allegation of abetting the crime against his wife Swapna, have been proven during the investigation," said SI Ohiduzzaman.
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The charge sheet was submitted to the court around 3:30pm. After taking it into cognisance, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ashraful Haque ordered the case to be transferred to the Dhaka Children Repression Prevention Tribunal for trial.
The court has set 1 June for the indictment hearing, said the court's Bench Assistant Pankaj Peter Gomez.
The charge sheet names 15 witnesses.
According to court sources, Sohel has been charged with rape and murder, while his wife, Swapna, has been accused of assisting in the killing.
The chargesheet states that the accused, Swapna Akter, who is the wife of prime accused Sohel Rana, 30, intercepted the child and deceptively lured her inside their neighbouring apartment.
Once the child was inside, the husband, Sohel Rana, confined Ramisa within their bathroom to lay the brutal sexual assault, raping the child before slitting her throat, according to the chargesheet.
The chargesheet further details that around 10:30am, after Ramisa went missing, her mother began searching for her child to send her to school and discovered a shoe of hers placed outside the suspects' door.
Receiving no response to their knocks, the parents and other building residents forced entry into the flat, discovering Ramisa's decapitated body on the bedroom floor and her head concealed inside a large bucket.
Swapna Akter was caught standing at the scene and immediately confessed to the parents and neighbours that her husband had committed the assault and murder inside the bathroom.
Following the discovery, the victim's father, Abdul Hannan Mollah, lodged a formal case with the Pallabi Police Station naming Sohel Rana and his wife, Swapna Akter.
Police arrested Swapna from the crime scene and subsequently tracked down and apprehended Sohel Rana from Fatullah in Narayanganj.
On 20 May, Sohel Rana gave a formal judicial confession acknowledging his direct role in the crime, while Swapna was sent to jail on the same day.
The submission of this chargesheet today marks the second major phase of the legal proceedings, supported by the Law Ministry's appointment of Advocate Azizur Rahman Dulu as a special public prosecutor under Section 492 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, to guarantee a rapid trial.
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman had made a public vow yesterday in Trishal, Mymensingh, stating that the state would ensure the trial concludes within one month to secure the maximum penalty of the death sentence for the perpetrators.
