Kushtia woman ‘strangles daughter to death, kills herself’

A woman struggling in poverty has reportedly strangled her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter to death using a rope before dying by suicide in Kushtia’s Daulatpur.

The incident is said to have happened around 7pm on Thursday in Insafnagar village in Ramkrishnapur Union.

Police and locals say that 25-year-old local resident Reshma Khatun, the wife of Saudi expatriate Rahidul Islam, had broken down mentally over the past few days due to a financial crisis and family unrest.

On Thursday night, she allegedly killed her daughter Lamia before hanging herself from the ceiling of her house. At one point, neighbours went to the house and called for Reshma. When she did not respond, they looked through the window and saw the hanging body, broke down the door, recovered the body, and reported the incident to the police.

After receiving the report, police went to the scene and collected the bodies of the dead mother and child.

The body of a child and the body of her hanging mother were found in their own house, confirmed Md Solaiman Sheikh, chief of Daulatpur Police Station. The bodies have been sent to the morgue at Kushtia General Hospital on Friday morning to confirm the cause of death.

An initial investigation found that Reshma’s expatriate husband Rahidul had not been in touch with his wife and child for some time. As they did not have money for daily expenses, there was a dispute among the family.

 “Whatever happened, the police will look into it,” OC Solaiman said.

The bodies were handed over to the family on Friday afternoon following the autopsies, he said.