Wife among five charged over doctor Akash’s death

The wife of Mustafa Murshed Akash, who died allegedly by suicide after citing her adultery, is among five formally charged with instigating the Chattogram physician to take his own life, reports bdnews24.com.

The investigator, Sub-Inspector Abdul Quader, submitted the charge-sheet to the police’s prosecution department on Monday and the law enforcers forwarded it to court on Wednesday.

Akash’s mother Jobeda Khanam started a criminal case against his wife Tanzila Hoque Chowdhury Mitu and five others at the Chandgaon Police Station on Feb 1 after his death the previous day.

The others accused in the case were Mitu’s mother Shamim Shelly, father Anisul Hoque Chowdhury, younger sister Sanzila Hoque Chowdhury Alisha, Mitu’s so-called friend doctor Mahbubul Alam, and one Uttam Patel, who resides in the US.

Patel’s name has been dropped.

Chattogram Metropolitan Police Additional Deputy Commissioner Md Qamruzzaman and Inspector Abdur Rahim confirmed the development to bdnews24.com.

The maximum punishment for abetting death by suicide is 10 years' imprisonment and fines.

Akash, 32, was a physician working at the Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH). He also ran a medical admission coaching centre named ‘Three Doctors’.

Mitu, who passed the MBBS from Cumilla Medical College and got introduced to Akash during internship at the CMCH, moved to the US immediately after their wedding in 2016.

The couple had been fighting over accusations of adultery since Mitu had gone to the US, police had said earlier.

The situation got worse when she came back to Bangladesh on Jan 13, police said.

Within two weeks of her return, Akash took his own life by allegedly injecting himself with a poisonous substance in the early hours of Jan 31.

Before killing himself, he wrote several posts on Facebook accusing his wife of having affairs.

As “evidence”, he provided several photos of Mitu posing with “friends”.

Police had said they would investigate the people who Akash claimed were in a relationship with his wife in the Facebook posts before his death.

Police arrested Mitu in the port city the same night of her husband’s death.

She secured bail from the High Court by the end of August. 

The other accused, including doctor Mahbubul, a batchmate of Mitu in Cumilla, are on the run.