Mother killed in front of kids

A woman was hacked to death in her home in the capital's Sabujbagh yesterday.

Police suspect the victim, Tania Akter alias Mukta, 26, was murdered in front of her infant son and toddler daughter.

Asgar Ali, inspector (operation) of Sabujbagh Police Station, said that on being informed by neighbours, they recovered the body from the first floor of a four-storey building in Battala area around 6:00pm.

He said the killer(s) tied the hands and shut the mouths of Mukta's three-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son with duct tapes. After the killer(s) left, the toddler, with her mouth and hands still tied with duct tapes, managed to walk next door and alert the neighbours, he said.

After police arrived at the scene, they saw the body lying face down in a pool of blood. There were hack wounds in the neck and back. The son was found next to the body, and the main door of the flat was open.

The body was taken to the Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy.

Tania lived with her two children at the flat. Her husband, a technician at Faridpur Medical College Hospital, lives near his workplace and would visit his family once or twice every month. 

Asked about the motive behind the murder, Monotosh Biswas, assistant commissioner of police (Sabujbagh zone), said, "The AC was found disassembled on the floor, and the almirah was open with a locker inside also open. It appears that someone came to repair the AC and then killed the woman."

Police are investigating whether there was any other motive, he said.