Ramisa Akhter had filled her home with academic trophies. On Tuesday morning, the eight-year-old schoolgirl was found brutally murdered in a flat next door.

Ramisa was the top student in class two at Popular Model High School in Dhaka’s Pallabi. After securing second place in playgroup and KG, she earned roll number one in class one.

Her academic trophies still sit carefully arranged at home -- reminders of a bright child who is no longer there.

Around 11:00am on Tuesday, police recovered Ramisa’s decapitated body from a flat next to her family’s home in Pallabi. She lived with her family in an apartment in the Section 11 area of Pallabi.

When this correspondent visited the family’s home on Tuesday evening, Ramisa’s 10-year-old sister, Raisa Akhter, was staring quietly at the trophies.

“My sister was a good student. She was very attentive in her studies,” Raisa told The Daily Star, before turning her eyes back to Ramisa’s achievements.

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Photo: Shaheen Mollah/Star

Ramisa’s mother, Parvin Begum, told reporters that her daughter was getting ready for school in the morning.

“My elder daughter Raisa told me she was going to her uncle’s house in another building. I thought Ramisa had gone with her,” Parvin said.

“After a while, I heard Ramisa screaming and went looking for her. When I came out of the house, I saw her shoes in front of Sohel’s flat,” she said, referring to a neighbour.

Parvin said she knocked repeatedly on the door, but no one opened it.

“Later, people from the neighbourhood came and broke open the door. They recovered my daughter’s body. They brutally murdered my daughter,” she said.

The accused, Sohel Rana, 30, was detained by a team of Mirpur Division Police in Narayanganj’s Fatullah around 7:00pm on Tuesday, according to police.

Ramisa’s uncle, AKM Nazrul Islam, told The Daily Star that locals broke open the door and found Sohel’s wife inside the flat.

He said Ramisa’s headless body had been hidden under a bed, while her head was recovered from a bucket in the bathroom.

“Sohel cut a window grille and fled. Even after repeated knocks, his wife did not open the door. She helped her husband escape,” Nazrul alleged.

Later in the evening, this correspondent visited Ramisa’s school, where a heavy silence hung over the campus.

Her class teacher, Mahbubul Hakim, said Ramisa always came to school 10 minutes early. “Today (Tuesday), she did not attend, so I was a bit worried. Later, I found out that she had been murdered. Such incidents are unacceptable,” he said.

Saiful Islam, headmaster of Popular Model High School, described Ramisa as a bright student. “We are outraged by this incident. A human chain programme will be held at the school tomorrow (today),” he told The Daily Star.

Pallabi Police Station Officer-in-Charge Hasan Bashir said accused Sohel Rana and his wife, Swapna Khatun, 27, have been arrested.