2 cops from Maldives in Rajshahi
Two top Maldivian police officials flew to Rajshahi yesterday to assist Detective Branch of police in probing the death of Raudha Athif, a medical student and model from that country.
Chief Superintendent Mohamed Riyaz and Chief Inspector Ahamed Ali of the Maldivian police landed in Shah Makhdum Airport around 5:00pm, said Rashidul Islam, inspector of DB of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police.
They are likely to visit the scene, talk to the girl's family members and local police officials, he said, adding that they came to the district at the request of Raudha's family to the Maldivian government via the country's embassy in Dhaka.
The two police officials were staying at Rajshahi Circuit House.
The police in the Maldives on March 31 tweeted that they were maintaining contact with the family of Raudha and the authorities in Bangladesh. “There have been a lot of speculations in the local media about the ongoing investigation into the death of a Maldivian woman in Bangladesh.”
Raudha, a second-year student of Islami Bank Medical College, was found dead in her room at the women's dormitory of the college in Nawdapara area of Rajshahi city on March 29.
Her autopsy report said she killed herself by hanging. However, her family members rejected the report and said they were considering seeking a second autopsy.
They keep insisting that it was a murder.
Initially, Shah Makhdum police were dealing with the case but it was later transferred to the DB in Rajshahi and Inspector Rashidul was assigned to do the investigation.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, Raudha's younger brother Rayyan Athif said they sought help from the Maldivian government after suspecting that someone else was using the instagram profile of his sister. “At one point, the profile was deleted all together probably to hide evidence.”
Raudha's phone, seized by the police, remained inaccessible till last night. However, Inspector Rashidul said he took the mobile phone of one of the classmates of Raudha to his office. “We haven't seized it, we are just examining it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Raudha's mother Aminath Muharrimath has brought an allegation against the same girl, who is also a foreign student.
She alleged a couple of weeks before her daughter's death, the girl mixed some sleeping pills with Raudha's juice.
“Normally Raudha used to study with her but one night she told me that she was studying alone. After I asked her what had happened, she told me that she doesn't trust her anymore,” said Muharrimath.
Contacted, the girl, however, refuted the allegation. “I did make the juice but there was nothing in that. I believe Raudha never said anything like that to anyone.”
She also said she was the first person to notice Raudha hanging from the ceiling fan in her room. She then called other students at the dormitory and one of them brought down the body, thinking Raudha was still alive.
Inspector Rashidul said the girl in question also accompanied Raudha to the hospital in Rajshahi city after the Maldivian girl felt sick the night before she was found dead.
The girl said she took Raudha to the hospital that night at the request of one of their classmates.
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