Husband’s friend is the second killer of actress Shimu, reveals police

Police have revealed new details about the murder of actress Raima Islam Shimu: she was killed by two men -- her husband Shakawat Alim Nobel and his friend SMY Abdullah Farhad.

Earlier, police had said that Nobel strangled Shimu to death following marital strife and called up Farhad, his childhood friend, to help him in dumping the body in Keraniganj, reports bdnews24.com.

After interrogating Nobel and Farhad for three days, Additional Police Superintendent Humayun Kabir shared the new information at a news briefing on Friday.

Shimu and Farhad fought on Sunday morning as well, the ASP said. That was the time Nobel and Farhad killed her.

Farhad, Nobel’s childhood friend, lived in shared accommodation, commonly known as a mess, in Dhaka. With no specific earnings, he used to live off borrowed money from Nobel. “On the day of the incident, Farhad went to Nobel’s house early in the morning and joined him in killing Shimu.”

The couple’s children were sleeping in another room in the house and were ‘unaware’ of the killing, said Shimu’s family.

ASP Humayun Kabir, however, avoided the question on what was the issue of conflict between Shimu and Nobel. He said both Nobel and Farhad have given their statements on Thursday and the police are investigating the murder.

Nobel used to be a drug addict and currently suffering from kidney and liver ailments, the official said. “He’s quite feeble physically. When he started to assault his wife at one point of the altercation, Nobel could not handle Shimu. It was then Farhad came forward to help Nobel and they strangled Shimu to death.”

None of Shimu’s family could shed light on the issue behind the marital strife of the couple, though they mentioned it from the very beginning.

“I knew they always fought. Nobel used to torture Shimu. But I don’t know the reason behind the fight,” said Shahidul Islam Khokon, Shimu’s brother.

Khokon also said Shimu’s 17-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son were at home when she was killed, but they did not hear anything, or knew what happened.

“Nobel told the children that their mother went out to shoot and they told the same to others.”

Dhaka police recovered Shimu’s body on Monday and confirmed her identity using ‘information technology’. Police collected evidence from the crime scene and from Shimu’s home.

After Shimu was found dead, her brother Shahidul Islam blamed her husband for her death. But police were struggling to find evidence.

Then, during the investigation, police found a spool of thread which they later matched with the thread used to sew the sacks used to dump Shimu’s body. Shimu’s body was stuffed inside two gunny sacks which were stitched with plastic thread in the middle.

The discovery led to police focusing on Nobel, who later confessed to killing his wife during an interrogation.

Raima Islam Shimu made her film debut in Kazi Hayat’s ‘Bartaman’ in 1998. She starred in 25 films with noted directors, including Delwar Jahan Jhantu, Chashi Nazrul Islam, and Sharifuddin Khan Dipu

She was an associate member of the Bangladesh Film Artistes Association. In addition to films, she also worked in TV dramas and produced as well.

The 40-year-old Shimu lived with her husband and two children in Dhaka’s Green Road.