Husband claims wife committed suicide, her family suspect murder

Mystery shrouds the death of a housewife in a house in Dhaka's Nikunja area this morning.

The deceased was identified as Rafika Ruma Ety (26). Hailing from Bogura, she used to live on a ground-floor flat with her husband and son in the capital's Nikunja area.

Her husband has claimed she killed herself by hanging following a marital dispute over a trivial matter last night, while the victim's family suspect that she was killed and later hanged.

Ety's husband Jamal Hossain claimed they had an altercation last night over a trivial matter. Ety wanted to go out of the house in anger but he intercepted her.

"Later, we went to bed. Around 3:30am, I suddenly woke up and could not see Ety on the bed. Then, I went to the balcony and saw her hanging from the iron bar with a scarf," he claimed.

She was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared her dead.

The victim's brother Humayun Kabir said his sister was very strong mentally and she cannot have killed herself as she liked to take any kind of problem as a challenge.

"Her husband says she committed suicide by hanging herself, but how were her knees touching the ground?" he questioned.

"They had some family problems. We suspect that she was killed," he alleged.

Preparing an inquest report on the body, Sub-Inspector Abdus Samad of Khilkhet Police Station said there were no signs of external injuries on the victim.  A half crescent-shaped mark was found on her neck, however.

The body was kept at the hospital mortuary for autopsy, to determine the cause of death.