‘Raudha gave in to despair’

Maldivian model and medical student Raudha Athif gave in to despair when she discovered her boyfriend was cheating on her, Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) said in the final report yesterday.

Sub-inspector Saidur Rahman, investigating officer of PBI, submitted the report to a Rajshahi court, ruling out the possibility of murder.

Rahman told The Daily Star that PBI gathered evidence that proved her death was by suicide, and it was due to her “utter despair” over the breakup with her boyfriend.

Her Maldivian boyfriend is currently studying in the UK, added the report. 

Raudha, 20, who was featured as a Maldivian model in a Vogue magazine cover in 2016, was a second year student at Islami Bank Medical College in Rajshahi. On March 29, 2017, she was found dead at her college dormitory room.

PBI learnt about the affair after analysing photographs in her phone and laptop, and conversations between them on social media, the report said.

On the night before her death, Raudha somehow accessed Facebook messenger account of her boyfriend and discovered that he was cheating on her, the PBI official said.

Aggrieved, she tried to end her life by taking sedative pills and was treated at her medical college’s hospital.

The next day, she wrote him a note, mentioning how upset she was at his behaviour and took her life, the report said.

PBI was not bringing any allegation against Raudha’s boyfriend as he is not a citizen of Bangladesh and they were not asked to do that, said the official.

After Raudha’s death, her father filed a murder case, accusing her classmate on April 10, 2017. The case was investigated by local police, Detective Branch and Criminal Investigation Department -- who came up with reports suggesting that she died by suicide.

Her father rejected those and filed a no-confidence petition with a Rajshahi court. Following a court order, PBI had been investigating the case since December 23, 2017.