Granddaughter 'raped', killed after grandma hacked dead

A grandmother hacked to death in Pabna's Ishwardi at midnight while miscreants kidnapping her granddaughter and later raped and strangled to death. 

The police recovered the bodies of the two victims from separate places on Saturday morning. The deceased are - Joynal Khan's mother Sufia Khatun, 65, and daughter Jamila Akhter, 15.

The incident took place in Bhabanipur Uttarpara of Dashuria Union of the upazila sometime around midnight, said Ishwardi Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md. Mominuzzaman.

Locals said that the locals came out on the road after hearing the sound of crying suddenly in the middle of the night. They could not identify which house the sound was coming from. Later, when the crying stopped, they went back to their respective homes.

They also said that Sufia Khatun's bloody body was found in the courtyard of the house on Saturday morning. At one point during the search for Jamila, her body was found naked in a mustard field. 

They also said that deceased Sufia Khatun's son Joynal Khan stayed in Dhaka in search of a livelihood. The grandmother and granddaughter lived together in the house.

OC Md. Mominuzzaman said, "Initially, it is believed that when the miscreants tried to take her away in the middle of the night, the grandmother stopped her. Enraged, they hacked the old woman to death with a country-made weapon. Later, they took the girl to the mustard field next to her, raped her and strangled her to death."

Ishwardi Circle Additional Superintendent of Police Pranab Kumar said, "This is a very barbaric murder. The police are investigating the matter seriously. After the post-mortem report, the body has been sent to the Pabna General Hospital morgue for an autopsy. 

Our multiple teams are working in the field to quickly identify the criminals and bring them to justice, he added.

In addition to grief, there is extreme panic in Bhabanipur village following this double murder. Locals have demanded the immediate arrest and exemplary punishment of those involved in the incident.