Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman has directed the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner to submit an investigation report within seven days into the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in the capital’s Pallabi area on Tuesday, according to ministry sources.

The ministry said necessary steps would be taken to ensure the trial was completed as swiftly as possible.

Ramisa Akter’s neighbour, Sohel Rana, 31, raped and then killed and beheaded her in Pallabi. The prime suspect confessed before a magistrate yesterday to raping and killing the child.

Following the recording of his confessional statement by Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Aminul Islam Junaid under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a Dhaka court sent Sohel Rana, to jail.

His wife, Swapna Akter, 26, was also sent to jail after police appealed to a separate court to keep her in custody as an accomplice in the killing.

The case was filed by the Ramisa’s father, Abdul Hannan Mollah, who named the couple and an unidentified third person as accused.

According to the case statement, Rana lured Ramisa into his home, where he raped her. He then slit her throat and attempted to dismember her body in an effort to conceal the crime.