A man strangled his wife to death in the city's Mirpur area early on Friday.

The deceased was Labonno Jahan Nargis, 18, wife of Riffat Hossain Suman, 25, of Purba Monipur area.

Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Mirpur Police Station Kazi Wajed Ali said police yesterday morning recovered the body from her residence and sent it to Dhaka Medical College (DMC) morgue for autopsy. Suman fled the rented house after the incident.

Suman's father Abdul Aziz Talukder went to the police station late Friday night and informed the police about the incident, said the OC.

After having a squabble Thursday night the couple went to sleep. In the following morning when Aziz noticed an open door, he entered the room and found Nargis lying on the bed. Her throat was tied up with a rope.

She was rushed to a local hospital where the doctors declared her dead.

DMC morgue sources said the victim was strangled to death and there was injury marks in her body.

Suman married Nargis about one year 10 months ago. After the marriage Nargis's relatives came to know that Suman had a pre-marriage affair with a girl named Jui. At one stage Suman secretly married the girl.

As Nargis came to know about the marriage, she forced Suman to divorce her. Suman sold a piece of land in his village and divorced Jui after paying her Tk 5 lakh.

Even after the break up Suman maintained relationship with Jui. "That is why Suman killed Nargis," suspects Tobarak Hossain, maternal cousin of the deceased.

Nargis's father Altaf Hossain sued Suman, his father and sister for the murder.