On the morning of 5 June 2016, Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, mother of two, was killed near the GEC intersection of Panchlaish, Chattogram, while taking her son to his school bus. A group of men approached her from behind, stabbed her repeatedly and then shot her at close range. The killing was carried out in public, on a busy road, in broad daylight.
Mitu was the wife of Babul Akhter, then a senior police officer associated with counter-militancy operations. Immediately after the murder, Babul filed a case claiming that militant groups assassinated her in retaliation for his work. Under this claim, several men from low-income neighborhoods were detained and interrogated, and the killing was presented as an act of extremist violence.
The narrative shifted when the case was transferred to the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI). After years of inquiry, PBI rejected the claim of militancy and instead accused Babul Akhter of orchestrating the killing, citing personal and domestic conflict. Following this, Mitu’s father, Mosharraf Hossain, filed a new case naming Babul and several others involved in planning and execution.
Several men were identified as intermediaries and hired attackers. One key participant, known locally as Kalu, remains missing. Another, Musa, remained untraceable for years before being detained in a later phase of the investigation. Testimonies linked the planning of the attack to a coordinated group instructed to kill Mitu in a location where escape would be easy and public witnesses intimidated.
In 2022, a charge sheet named eight accused, including Babul. A court in Chattogram accepted the charges in March 2023. Babul remained in custody for several years before being granted bail in late 2024. The trial continues, with several key accused still absent and testimony proceeding slowly.
The killing of Mahmuda Khanam Mitu remains a case where a woman was murdered in public and the narrative of the murder was controlled, redirected, and contested across police institutions, family networks, and legal forums. Nearly a decade later, there has been no final resolution, and the full chain of responsibility for her death remains unsettled.
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