Police have arrested the main accused in the death of a young garment worker who fell from a building at the University of Science and Technology Chittagong (USTC) Hospital, with the victim’s family alleging she was murdered after rejecting a marriage proposal.
The information was disclosed in a statement posted on the verified Facebook page of Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) today (25 May).
The victim, Riya Akter Rita, 20, worked at a garment factory in the CDA Market area of Pahartali in Chattogram.
After her body was recovered from the USTC campus on 24 May night, the victim’s mother, Jamila Begum, filed a murder case with Khulshi Police Station.
Police said the prime accused, Abdur Rahman Sheikh, 21, was arrested within 24 hours of the case being filed.
He was detained during a raid in the Badamtali area under Sonagazi Model Police Station in Feni based on intelligence information.
According to police and the case statement, the accused and the victim knew each other as they worked at the same garment factory.
Although Abdur Rahman lost his job around three to four months ago following a workplace altercation, he continued harassing Rita, the case statement alleged.
Police said the accused allegedly took Rita to the Foy’s Lake area on the night of 23 May after factory hours and later brought her to a staircase on the fifth floor of USTC Hospital.
Following an argument there, he allegedly pushed her from the building, according to the complaint.
Police sent the body to Chattogram Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy after preparing an inquest report on the night of 24 May.
