A grandmother died after being attacked while trying to catch a man accused of raping her four-year-old granddaughter in Phulpur municipality of Mymensingh.
Police and relatives said the incident occurred around 9 pm on Monday during a Shyama Puja event in the municipality. Abu Rabi Das (32), a resident of the area, allegedly took the child to a secluded spot near her house on the pretext of buying toys and raped her.
The child returned home crying and told her grandmother about the incident. When the grandmother went to confront Rabi Das, he hit her on the head with a stick.
Locals rescued the grandmother and the child and took them to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital. As the grandmother’s condition deteriorated, she was transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, but due to an ICU shortage, her family was taking her back to Mymensingh when she died on the way around 4 pm on Tuesday.
Police recovered the body on Wednesday morning and sent it to the Mymensingh Medical College morgue for autopsy. The accused Rabi Das, who went into hiding after the incident, was arrested from Bhaluka on Tuesday night.
Phulpur Police Station Officer-in-Charge Abdul Hadi said preparations are underway to file a case. Mymensingh Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime) Abdullah Al Mamun said, “Although there were allegations that the child was raped, the doctor told us that there was no rape, but there may have been an attempt to rape.”
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