A man arrested in a case filed over the murder of his wife and hiding her body in a refrigerator in the capital's Kalabagan area gave his confessional statement before a Dhaka court on Wednesday.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Sadekur Rahman recorded the statement of Nazrul Islam, 52, under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and ordered to send him to jail. Nazrul voluntarily admitted to committing the crime of killing his wife Taslima Akter.
Earlier, police arrested Nazrul Islam during a raid on Nawabpur Road in the capital's Bangshal area on Tuesday night. Masud Alam, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Ramna Division, disclosed the development at a press briefing.
Nazrul had long-standing disputes with his wife Taslima Akter. He suspected that Taslima had a relationship with another man and feared that she might seize his property. Following these suspicions, Nazrul frequently subjected his wife to both mental and physical abuse.
When Nazrul returned home on Sunday night, he saw two of the three locks of the flat's main door were open, which heightened his agitation. At around midnight, Nazrul hacked his sleeping wife to death with a machete.
Nazrul tied her body with a towel, wrapped it in a bed sheet and a scarf, and hid it in the freezer of the house. He tried to hide the evidence by turning over the blood-stained mattress, cleaning the floor, and washing his clothes.
The next morning, Nazrul told his eldest daughter that her mother had run away with another man. At that moment, the eldest daughter noticed bloodstains on the wall.
Nazrul then said he would take both the daughters to their maternal grandparents' home. But instead he took them to their aunt's (Nazrul's sister) house in the capital's Adabar area.
After leaving the girls there, Nazrul fled in a private car. Being suspicious, Taslima's younger brother, Naeem Hossain, along with the two daughters, filed a complaint at Kalabagan Police Station on Monday evening.
DC Masud Alam also said in response to the complaint, a team from Kalabagan Police Station went to the flat. The police broke the door lock to enter the flat. At one point, they opened the deep freezer, and after removing the fish and meat stored on top, they found Taslima's body wrapped in a sheet.
Subsequently, Taslima's brother filed a murder case on Monday night. After filing the case, the police analysed CCTV footage, and with the help of intelligence information and technology, tracked Nazrul's whereabouts and arrested him.
talhabinhabib@yahoo.com
