Residents burn down home of Gazipur man accused of killing wife after torture

A woman has been tortured and killed by her drug-addict husband, with the help of her father-in-law and mother-in-law, in Gazipur’s Sreepur Upazila, police say.

The mother-in-law has been detained following the incident, which took place on Wednesday night at Bormi Madhyapara (Mridha Bari) village.

At 6:30am on Thursday, agitated locals set fire to the house of the victim’s husband Nurul Islam Mridha, 34, said Sub-Inspector (SI) Jahangir Alam of Sreepur Police Station.

The victim, 22-year-old Sweety Akhter Nishi, was from Chakua village under Pagla Police Station in Mymensingh’s Gafargaon.

Police say Nurul has three narcotics cases filed against him at Sreepur Police Station.

Sweety’s cousin Akhlima Akhter said the couple were married one and a half years ago and have a 4-month-old daughter.

“After marriage, Sweety discovered that Nurul had been a drug addict and a known peddler in the area. When she protested, Nurul started beating her,” Sweety alleged.

“Three to four days ago, police came to arrest Nurul. Failing to find him, they questioned Sweety. She told police her husband was an addict and a drug peddler. When Nurul came to know of this, he, along with his father Shahjahan and mother Zobeda Khatun, began torturing her,” she added.

According to Aklima, around 10:30pm on Wednesday, the marriage matchmaker, Md Nazmul, called Sweety’s family to inform them of her death. By then, Nurul and his father had fled the house. When family members arrived, they found Sweety lying on the floor of the house, lifeless.

Police arrived at the scene later that night, recovered the body, and took the mother-in-law Jobaida into custody.

Aklima claimed Sweety was beaten to death with either a bamboo or a knife in front of her infant daughter, who also bore signs of injury. “She was killed right in front of her breastfeeding baby.”

As the news of the murder spread on Thursday morning, locals set fire to two houses belonging to Nurul. Eight rooms and all the furniture inside were destroyed.

Sweety’s body has been sent to the Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital morgue in Gazipur for postmortem examination.

Humayun Kabir, warehouse inspector at Mawna Fire Service in Sreepur, said two fire service units managed to bring the fire under control by 11am. “By then, the crowd had already burned down valuable belongings and furniture,” he added.

SI Jahangir said, “Sweety’s legs were crushed below the knees. There were marks of torture from head to toe.”

Sreepur police chief Mohammad Abdul Barik said, “Based on local accounts, we have arrested Jobaida Khatun on charges of involvement in the torture. She will be produced before the court.”