Moriam Murmu Case – Follow-up
Police arrest 4 thieves on charge of murder
Investigation into the case for murder of indigenous woman Moriam Murmu has taken a new turn as police arrested four more killer-suspects from Shimla Dighipara village in Godagari upazila of Rajshahi district yesterday.
“During primary interrogation, three of the arrestees — Amar Kisku, 20, Johan Marandi, 30, and Shawkat Iqbal, 30, confessed that they entered the house to steal but later they raped and strangulated the woman to death,” said Zakirul Islam, officer in charge (OC) of Godagari police station.
Police recovered Tk 4100 from the possession of Amar Kisku who confessed to have stolen Tk 5000 from Moriam’s house, he said, adding that the arrestees said local people used to keep money of a cooperative society run by the villagers at Moriam’s house as they considered it secure.
The three people were held from different places of the village at around 11:00am and police continued interrogation and scrutiny of their statements, the OC said.
The other arrestee — Andrias Murmu, 28, who was held at around 3:00am, was sent to a Rajshahi court with a prayer for his five-day remand.
Earlier, police arrested Moriam’s brother-in-law Biswanath Marandi from Chapainawabganj as Moriam’s son Wilson Murmu in his case filed with the Godagari police station mentioned Biswanath’s name as a suspect behind the killing.
There was a long-standing land dispute between Biswanath and Moriam, Wilson said.
When this correspondent asked Wilson about his opinion about the police investigation and arrest of four more people in connection with the murder, he said yesterday, “Even if my mother’s killers committed other crimes on the night of the gruesome murder, there is sufficient reason to believe that they worked in collusion with my uncle Biswanath Marandi, the killer-suspect mentioned in my case.”
Moriam Murmu, 48, widow of late Hopna Mardi of Chaitanpur village in Tanore upazila, was tortured to death at her paternal house at Shimla Dighipara village of Godagari upazila on July 10.
Moriam went to bed at around 9:00pm on July 9 and locals saw her stripped body hanging from a tree in the morning.
Informed by locals, police recovered the body and sent it to hospital for autopsy.
-With The Daily Star input
