Murder of House Help: Marine engr, wife tortured her to death, dumped body

A marine engineer confessed to torturing a 20-year-old house help to death and dumping her body in a suitcase under a bridge in Gouripur, Mymensingh.

A court in the district recorded the confession and sent Abul Khair, 44, and his wife Rifat Jesmin Jesi, 30, to jail on Thursday.

They also admitted that they quite frequently tortured Sabina, 20, who worked in their 14th-floor apartment in Taimur Excel Tower on Gangadas Guha Road for the last four years.

They were arrested by Police Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday from a house in Barera area of the town, said Gautam Kumar Biswas, superintendent of police (SP) of PBI in Mymensingh, at a press briefing yesterday.

On November 8 last year, Sabina was asked to prepare breakfast for guests. But when she could not due to illness, the couple tortured her severely, which led to her death, the officer said.

The couple then put the body inside a suitcase and dumped it in a canal, he added.

Locals found the suitcase the next day by the Mymensingh-Kishoreganj road.

A case was filed with Gauripur Police Station on November 11.

The SP said a prescription found in the suitcase led them to the suspects.

"At one stage in our investigation into the seizure list, we found an old prescription of Zakir in the luggage. The investigation started from this source," the SP said.

"After the arrest, the couple admitted to the crime," he added.

Sabina's parents demanded exemplary punishment of the killers.

Talking to reporters, Sabina's father Sirajul Islam Siru of the Ujan Ghagra area said the accused rarely allowed him or his wife to meet their daughter.

"Even after her death, they [Sabina's employers] didn't tell us anything. We came to know about it on Wednesday after police informed us," the father said.

SP Gautam added that the law enforcers are investigating if anyone else was involved in the incident.