‘You killed the boy for an iPhone—we would have given you 10’

The family of Ishayat Shahriar, also known as Opritom, 13, has been left devastated after losing their only child. Ishayat, a seventh-grade student and the only son of Nahida Begum, an associate professor in the Department of Bangla at Comilla University, went missing on Friday after leaving home with his mother’s iPhone. His body was recovered by police from a wooded area in the Sananda section of Lalmai Hill near the university on Saturday afternoon, a day after he disappeared.

The iPhone that Ishayat was carrying has not yet been recovered. Police and university teachers have initially suspected that he may have been killed in an attempt to take the phone from him. However, the motive for the killing and the identities of those involved have yet to be established.

After the body was recovered, Comilla University Proctor Professor Abdul Hakim said, “Sadly, we could not get the boy back alive. His mother’s iPhone, which he had with him, has also not been found.”

Expressing condolences to the grieving family, he said the university community could not accept the death of the only son of associate professor Nahida Begum. “The entire university family is mourning this tragic incident,” he said.

Following the recovery of the body, university teacher Mohammad Mahmudul Hasan Khan expressed his grief and anger in a social media post.

“You killed the boy just for an iPhone. If you had asked for 10 such phones as ransom, we would have given them. Missing Opritom has been killed. May Allah give his parents the strength to bear this loss,” he wrote.

According to family members, Ishayat left home around 2:30pm on Friday, taking his mother’s iPhone and saying that he was going out to take photographs with friends. He never returned.

An attempt was made to trace the location of his phone. Until around 6:30pm, the device was detected in Gandhamati in the Kotbari area. It was later found to be switched off.

After Ishayat went missing, his father, KM Firoz Shahriar, filed a general diary with the police. Various law enforcement units, including police, the Detective Branch and the Special Response Battalion, were contacted in an effort to locate him.

Around 1pm on Saturday, police were informed that Ishayat’s body was lying in a wooded area of Lalmai Sananda Hill near the university. Officers later went to the scene and recovered the body. Police said there were signs of injury to his head.

Mohammad Rakibul Islam, officer-in-charge of Comilla Sadar South Police Station, said the body would be sent to the morgue at Comilla Medical College for an autopsy.

“From the beginning, police have been treating the matter with utmost importance. We are working to identify those involved in the killing. More details will be provided as the investigation progresses,” he said.