Police in the capital have arrested Shafiur Rahman, the Managing Director of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, along with his wife and two others, on charges of brutally torturing an 11-year-old domestic worker.

The detention took place late Sunday night at the couple`s residence in Uttara area.

The accused, identified as Shafiur Rahman, his wife Bithi, and two other domestic staff members-- Rupali Khatun and Sufia Begum., were produced before the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Ehsanul Islam on Monday.

Sub-Inspector Romer Mia of Uttara West Police Station, the investigating officer in the case, filed a petition to detain the suspects in jail pending further investigation.

Kazi Md Rafiq Ahmed, officer-in-charge (OC) of Uttara West Police Station, stated that the police took action after receiving a complaint regarding the "heinous torture" of the minor girl. A formal case was filed, prompting a raid around 3:30 AM on Monday, which resulted in the immediate detention of the Biman chief and his wife.

According to the case documents, the plaintiff, a hotel employee, became acquainted with Jahangir, the security guard of the house of Shafiqur and his wife Bithi. Jahangir informed the plaintiff that the couple living in the house where he worked as a security guard were looking for a young girl to take care of their child. The plaintiff later met the couple, who said that they would bear all expenses, including marriage, for the girl they would employ. Agreeing to this, the plaintiff placed his daughter Mohana in their household in June last year.

The last time the father saw the 11-year-old child in good health was on November 2 last year at that house. After that, however, the accused did not allow the child to meet her family, according to the case documents.

On 31 January, Bithi called the child`s father and told him that his daughter was ill and asked him to take her back. The father then went to bring his daughter. At around 7pm, a woman named Sathi handed over the child to the plaintiff. At that time, the plaintiff saw that his daughter had serious injuries on both hands and various other parts of her body. The girl was also unable to speak properly. When Sathi was asked about the cause, she could not give a satisfactory answer.

The father then admitted his daughter to Gazipur Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital. Upon questioning, the girl stated that since 2 November, after her father last visited her, Shafiqur, Bithi, and other unidentified accused had repeatedly assaulted her without reason and had severely injured her by heating a metal ladle over fire and burning different parts of her body.

Following the incident, the father filed the case at Uttar West Police Station on charges of torture.