Body of Young Man Found With Throat Slit in Habiganj Five Days After He Went Missing; Police Say Friend Confessed to Killing for an iPhone

Police in Habiganj district have recovered the throat-slit body of a young man named Tarek Mia (22), five days after he went missing. His friend Sadek Mia has been arrested in the incident. Police said Sadek admitted killing Tarek to take the iPhone Tarek had.

On Tuesday (27 October) afternoon, Sadek Mia was arrested from a tea shop in the Choushatpur area of Nabiganj upazila in Habiganj. Later, based on information he gave, Tarek Mia's body was recovered at around 8 pm from a canal in the Fulbaria area of Lakhai upazila.

The deceased Tarek Mia was the son of Marfat Ullah of the Choushatpur area of Nabiganj upazila. The arrested Sadek Mia is a resident of the same area and the son of Nanu Mia.

Police and local people said the two friends went to the Fulbaria area of Lakhai upazila for work last Thursday. There they had an argument over an iPhone that Tarek had.

At one stage Tarek was killed by slitting his throat and the body was dumped in a canal, according to a confession Sadek gave, police said.

After Tarek went missing, family members filed a general diary (GD) at Nabiganj police station on Friday. After the GD, police began investigating the matter with importance.

At one stage of the investigation, Tarek's friend Sadek was detained as a suspect. Police said important information about the killing was obtained during interrogation.

Nabiganj police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mohammad Abul Hossain said that in preliminary interrogation Sadek Mia admitted killing Tarek in order to take the iPhone. Based on the information he gave, Tarek's body was recovered from a canal in the Fulbaria area.

The OC said the body would be sent to Habiganj Sadar Hospital for an autopsy. Legal action in this incident is under process.

Earlier in Cumilla, a killing over snatching an iPhone was also alleged. The body of Isayat Shahriar Apratim, son of Dr Nahida Begum, associate professor of the Bangla department of Cumilla University, was found on 19 September at noon at a lonely place on Lalmai hill in Bijoypur Sananda village of Cumilla Sadar Dakshin upazila.

In that incident, Superintendent of Police Anisuzzaman said at a press conference on 21 September that Apratim was taken in a planned way to a lonely hilly area and killed to snatch the iPhone he had. Saiful Islam Tuhin, Mozammel Hossain Fahad and Md Kamrul Hasan were arrested in that incident, and a teenager named Siam was detained for interrogation.