Death of house help: 10-yr-old girl was beaten, then strangled to death

The 10-year-old house help, whose body was recovered from a city flat last week, was beaten with a wooden utensil before being strangled on the day she died, said police quoting her employer.

Police said Sathi Parvin, 40, frequently tortured Hena, 10.

They came up with this after arresting Sathi from Jashore yesterday morning.

Sathi had been on the run since August 26 when police recovered the body from her Central Road flat. 

The arrestee gave distressing details of torture after her arrest, Saiful Islam, officer-in-charge of Kalabagan Police Station, told The Daily Star.

Hena's entire body had several signs of torture, said morgue sources at the Dhaka Medical College.

The OC said that Hena, hailing from Muktagacha of Mymensingh, lost her parents when she was little. She was under the care of one of her aunts who took her to Sathi's home in Dhaka three years ago.

Sathi was supposed to pay Hena's aunt Tk 2,000 a month, which she stopped paying after a few months.

"Sathi used to torture Hena with excuses like not doing her job properly and not paying heed to her instructions. On the day of the incident, Sathi beat her with a wooden lentil mixer and then stepped and pressed on her throat," said the OC.

After Hena died, Sathi fled.

Mofizur Rahman, manager of the seven-storey flat building, said Sathi had been living in the flat, owned by her ex-husband, with her four-year-old daughter.

Sathi went to meet her ex-husband in Jashore after the incident, according to police.