A CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a 15-year-old schoolgirl in Cumilla has confessed to the crime before a court on Saturday.
The accused, Suman, made the confessional statement before Judge Mominul Haque of Cognizance Court No. 6 at the Cumilla Chief Judicial Magistrate Court under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, said Sadekur Rahman, court inspector of Cumilla.
He was subsequently sent to Cumilla District Jail at 7:20pm on Saturday.
Earlier, he was produced before the court around 3:30pm.
According to police, Suman picked up Tazmin in his CNG-run auto-rickshaw from the Padua Bazar Bishwaroad area on the night of Wednesday, October 7, promising to drop her home for a fare of Tk 300.
Police said that he later took her to a crop field in Lalmai, where he raped and murdered her.
Police further said Sumon fled to Chattogram after the murder with Tazmin's mobile phone.
He was arrested on Friday. Later, police recovered the mobile phone from a wooded area in the Bakhrabad locality based on information provided by him.
Earlier, Tazmin's body was recovered from a crop field in Jagatpur village under Perul Uttar Union in Lalmai upazila on Thursday morning.
She was an irregular seventh-grade student at Farida Bidyayatan High School in Cumilla city. Her home district was Jashore, and she lived with her family in the city's Racecourse area.