Man claims wife died by suicide, family suspects murder

Mystery shrouds the death of a woman, who was found hanging in a house in Dhaka's Nikunja area yesterday 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.

Her husband claimed that she hanged herself following a dispute over a trivial matter the night before, while the woman's family suspected that she was killed and then hanged.

Ety's husband Jamal Hossain also said following the altercation, she 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 find her. 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.

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

"Her husband says she hanged 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, Sub-inspector Abdus Samad of Khilkhet Police Station said there were no signs of external injuries on the body. However, a half crescent-shaped mark was found on her neck, he added.

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