Shown Alive in an AI Video as Family Paid Ransom, Murdered Rakibul Scores GPA-5 in HSC
On the day the HSC results were published, grief rather than joy descended on the family of farmer Khademul Islam in Dadir Ata village of Hemnagar union, Gopalpur upazila of Tangail. His younger son Rakibul Islam scored GPA-5, but he will never return home to share the joy of that success.
Rakibul sat his HSC examinations from Ghatail Cantonment Public School and College. After the exams he went to Dhaka to prepare for admission to the University of Dhaka. Family members said his dream was to finish higher education, serve the country and make his parents proud.
The family had planned that if their son did well they would distribute sweets at home and share the joy with relatives and neighbours. But the long-awaited day has arrived for this family carrying only grief.
According to police, a man named Abdullah Mamun was arrested in Dhaka on 16 September over the allegation of killing Rakibul. It is alleged that after the murder, a video was made using artificial intelligence (AI) technology showing Rakibul alive.
The allegation also says that video was sent to the family and a ransom demanded. Hoping to get their son back alive, the family paid four lakh taka, but he never returned. Police later recovered Rakibul's body from Dimla in Nilphamari. Legal proceedings against those responsible are under way.
Rakibul's elder brother Zahirul Islam Jibon said, “My brother got GPA-5. He had many dreams, but they will not come true now. They took four lakh taka from us as ransom by showing an AI picture. I want proper justice. At present there is no supervision of the case.”
The family has demanded that the killing be investigated properly and that those involved be brought under the law and given exemplary punishment.
