Pregnant woman beaten dead

A pregnant housewife was beaten to death allegedly by her husband's younger brother at Muriaruk village under Lakhai upazila of Habiganj on Sunday evening.

The victim was Mansura Akhter Sumi, 20, daughter of Shofil Mia of Dewan Bari of the same village.

"Police recovered the body last night and detained the victim's mother-in-law for interrogation. The alleged murderer, Burhan Uddin went into hiding," said Sub-inspector (SI) Razib Ahmed of Lakhai Police Station.

“Police also seized the cleaver, apparently with which the victim had been hit, and blood-stained clothes from the spot. The body, bearing multiple injury marks, has been sent to the hospital for autopsy,” he said.

“During primary interrogation, Burhan's mother admitted that her son committed the murder. Preparations are on to file a case in this connection,” said Emran Hosain, officer-in-charge of the police station.

“My daughter Sumi married Abdur Rashid Liton three years ago. Afterwards Liton's younger brother Burhan Uddin gave illicit proposal to Sumi, which she rejected,” said Shofil Mia.

As Burhan repeated the proposal on different occasions, Sumi told it to her husband. Last week, Liton asked Burhan not to disturb his wife. On Sunday afternoon when Liton was outside, Burhan engaged in a heated exchange with Sumi over the matter. He beat her mercilessly and lastly hit her with a cleaver on the head and fled away,” said Shofil.

Locals admitted Sumi to Habiganj Sadar Hospital from where she was referred to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital but she died on the way.