A key suspect in the brutal murder of a 13-year-old boy that provoked public outrage in Bangladesh has been arrested and sent to seven-day police custody for interrogation.
Moyna Mia was arrested yesterday on the outskirts of the northeastern city of Sylhet after receiving a tip-off from local residents. He was presented before the Metropolitan magistrate Mohammad Shahed Ali who sent him to seven-day police custody, a court official said.
Officer-in-charge of Sylhet Sadar Police Station Akhtar Hossain, meanwhile, told reporters that 38-year-old Mia, allegedly a paedophile, would be quizzed to track down the other suspects.
“You can call him (Mia) the main culprit...he caught the boy and called others to the scene to beat him to death,” Hossain said. He is the seventh person to be arrested over the July 8 killing of the boy, who was tied to a pole and then subjected to a brutal assault in which he pleaded for his life. A video footage of the incident caused widespread outrage.
District administration officials, however, said they found the case to be appropriate for speedy trial and arrangements were being made towards that direction. The main suspect in the case, Kamrul Islam, who was arrested yesterday in Saudi Arabia, could be extradited to Bangladesh after Eid.
According to TV reports, Bangladesh embassy officials in the kingdom confirmed that the Interpol request for Islam’s extradition has reached Jeddah police which was now expected to forward the letter to the King for approval to send him back home.