Woman’s body recovered in Dhaka 10 days after going missing; 2 held

Police yesterday recovered the decomposed body of a woman from a ditch in Konabari area under Uttarkhan Police Station in Dhaka, 10 days after she went missing.

The woman, Mala Rani Das (35), is suspected to have died while undergoing an abortion at a house in the area on July 3, police said.

Police also arrested a woman and her husband in this connection. They are: Hasina Akhter (35) and Golam Rabbani (38), said Jalal Uddin, officer-in-charge of Uttarkhan Police Station.

The arrestees have given confessional statements in this connection, the OC said.

On July 3, Mala went with Hasina to their house to undergo abortion. Later, she made a phone call from the couple's phone to her husband Hari Gopal Das to inform that she will stay there for the night and will return home the next day.

However, on July 4 afternoon, Mala passed away during the abortion, after which Hasina and her husband dumped the body in a nearby ditch, the arrestees said in their statements.

Mala's husband on July 5 filed a general diary (GD) with the police station. Police later used tracking technology to trace the phone number of Hasina and Rabbani, which Mala had used to call her husband on July 3, and managed to arrest the couple.

Based on information provided by the arrestees, Mala's body was recovered by police around 2:00pm yesterday, said the OC

The couple has long been conducting abortions illegally at their house in Uttarkhan. They were previously sued with the same police station and arrested in this connection for running a clinic illegally. They resumed their activities after coming out of jail by posting bail, said Md Mojibur Rahman, inspector (investigation) of the police station.