Case filed over ‘poisoning’ that killed 3 people in Moghbazar, 1 arrested

A murder case has been filed two days after the bodies of a Bangladeshi expatriate living in Saudi Arabia, his wife, and their son were recovered from a residential hotel in Dhaka’s Moghbazar.

The expatriate’s brother Nurul Amin filed a case at Ramna Police Station over the incident.

Omar Faruk, chief of Ramna Police Station, said that the expatriate's distant uncle Rafiqul Islam has been arrested in connection with the case.

Saudi expatriate Monir Hossain, 48, his wife Nasrin Akter Swapna, 38, and their son Arafat, 18, were declared dead by doctors after they were taken to Ad-Din Hospital from the residential hotel “Sweet Sleep” in Moghbazar last Sunday. The family hails from Dehla village in Lakshmipur’s Ramganj Upazila.

The inquest report says it is suspected that their deaths were due to poisoning of their food. It also noted that no injury marks were found on the bodies.

According to the case file, the plaintiff Nurul Amin lives in Italy, while his brother Monir lived in Saudi Arabia. Monir returned to his village for Eid-ul-Azha. While abroad, Monir bought land and houses in various locations around Dhaka and their village through their Rafiqul, who was taking care of the properties.

The case statement said that after Monir came home, a dispute arose with Rafiqul over the land and money. On Jun 28, Monir and his wife came to Dhaka for the medical treatment of their son. Rafiqul, who lives in Dhaka, went with them to SPRC Hospital on New Eskaton Road.

On that day, Monir, unable to get a doctor’s appointment, stayed at the “Sweet Sleep” hotel in Moghbazar with his wife and son. In the afternoon, Monir and Rafiqul went to the nearby “Bharta Bhat” hotel for lunch. Around 6:30pm, Rafiqul went to the hotel room with food for Monir's wife and son before heading home.

The case states that Monir and his family ate the food brought by Rafiqul and went to bed. Later in the night, they began vomiting and were taken to Ad-Din Hospital, where a doctor declared them dead.

In the statement, plaintiff Nurul said: "After hearing from relatives, I believe that in order to take away my brother's property, an unknown person or persons pre-planned their murders by mixing poison or a poisonous substance with their food while they were staying at the hotel, or in some other way."

Autopsies of the dead were conducted at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Monday.

Afterwards, Zakia Tasneem, a doctor from the hospital's forensic department, said that samples have been collected as per the police's request. Once they receive the results from testing the samples, it can be determined whether their deaths were due to poisoning.

"The samples have been sent to the Mohakhali Chemical Laboratory. Once the report comes, it will be confirmed whether they died of poisoning through food or some other cause."