Schoolgirl Tajmin had tried to save her life by running in paddy field

Police have recovered the naked body of a schoolgirl named Jannatul Tajmin, 14, from a paddy field in the Jatrapur area of Lalmai upazila in Cumilla. Marks of scuffle and running have been found in the spot and four-five surrounding paddy fields. From these marks, it is being assumed that the adolescent girl had tried to escape from the hands of the attackers before death.

Her body was recovered from a paddy field beside a lonely paved road in Jatrapur village of the upazila on Thursday (October 8) morning. Tajmin was a student of class seven of Farida Bidyayatan of Cumilla city. Her father Abdul Alim is an employee of the Cumilla region of the pharmaceutical company Renata. Their village home is in Chatian Tola village of Jashore Sadar upazila. However, Tajmin used to live with the family in a rented house in the Racecourse area of Cumilla city.

It has been learnt from local sources that on Thursday morning they became suspicious after seeing a CNG-run autorickshaw lying overturned beside the lonely road. A vanity bag was lying 20-30 yards away from the autorickshaw. The paddy plants of the four-five surrounding paddy fields were also in a crumpled and disordered state. Following these marks, they found the body of the adolescent girl with her face pressed into the mud. A gamcha was wrapped around her neck.

Later, when the locals phoned the national emergency service number 999, police went to the spot and recovered the body and the autorickshaw.

Senior Assistant Police Superintendent of Cumilla (Sadar South Circle) Mostain Billah informed that it is being primarily assumed that the adolescent girl was killed by strangulation. There was no visible mark of any major injury on her body. After receiving the autopsy report, it will be possible to confirm the actual cause of death and whether any other incident of torture had taken place. Multiple teams of police are working to identify the criminals by following the clue of the registered autorickshaw seized from the spot.

After the autopsy was completed, the relatives set out for Jashore with Tajmin’s body on Thursday night. It has been learnt that she will be buried in the family graveyard. In this incident, Tajmin’s father Abdul Alim has filed a murder case against unknown persons at Lalmai Police Station as the plaintiff.