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A domestic worker accused of drugging an elderly couple and looting their flat in Uttara has been arrested.
The suspect, who took up work under the fake name “Marufa”, was identified as 40-year-old Bilkis Begum, according to police.
Police said she had taken the job at the house just two days before the incident.
Speaking on Sunday, Additional DIG of the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) Md Enayet Hossain Mannan said Bilkis was identified through records of similar cases filed at different police stations in Dhaka, as she did not provide valid identity details at the time of her employment.
She was arrested on Thursday at Gazipur Chourasta.
Police also arrested a 53-year-old gold trader Robiul Awal at Gazipur Chourasta for allegedly purchasing stolen items from her, based on information she provided.
Both were produced in court on Friday.
Bilkis confessed, while the court granted a day for police to question Robiul in custody.
At a press conference at the PBI Dhaka Metro North office on Sunday, Mannan said the “clueless” case had been solved after reviewing CCTV footage and analysing similar cases involving domestic workers using sedatives to commit theft.
The incident took place on Tuesday at a house in Uttara.
Police said the domestic worker mixed sedatives with food and stole gold and cash from the flat.
The victims, 62-year-old Ayesha Akhter and her 68-year-old husband Anwar Hossain, were later found unconscious and taken to the hospital.
Doctors declared Ayesha dead, while Anwar remains in critical condition.
Earlier, police said the domestic worker had been hired just two days before the incident and that the family had not kept any copy of her identity card or phone number.
Mannan said that due to the lack of a clear address or photograph of the suspect, the PBI reviewed previous cases in Dhaka involving domestic workers who used sedatives to steal.
After collecting a photograph of a suspect from one such case, investigators showed it to the victim’s family, who identified her.
He said that when police contacted the temporary Gazipur address she had provided in an earlier case, they learned that changing addresses after committing crimes was one of her tactics to avoid arrest.
“PBI teams conducted drives at her father’s home in Mymensingh and her in-laws’ house in Jamalpur. After confirming her new address in Gazipur, she was arrested there,” Mannan said.