DB takes charge of Gazi Nazrul's wife's suicide case

The case over the abetment of suicide of Mariam Khatun, second wife of Satkhira-4 MP Gazi Nazrul Islam, has been transferred to the Dhaka Metropolitan Detective Police (DB) for investigation.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Detective Division Additional Commissioner Shafiqul Islam confirmed the matter on Tuesday noon. He said DB police will interrogate the accused in the case, Gazi Nazrul Islam and his first wife Makchuda Islam.

Earlier, Tejgaon division Deputy Commissioner Ibne Mizan said the case was transferred to the DB considering its importance. The DB will also conduct the remand interrogation.

Last Sunday, police recovered the hanging body of Gazi Nazrul Islam's second wife, Mosammat Mariam Khatun (19), from flat no. 203 on the third floor of building no. 5 of the Nyam building, the residence of MPs in the Shere Bangla Nagar area of the capital.

In the incident, Mariam's father, Md Masum Billah, filed a case over abetment of suicide with Shere Bangla Nagar Police Station. Gazi Nazrul Islam, his first wife Makchuda Islam and brother-in-law Obaidur Rahman were made accused in the case.

The First Information Report (FIR) stated that Mariam was married to Gazi Nazrul Islam in June last year according to Islamic Shariah. The FIR also mentioned that the marriage took place at the direct instigation of Obaidur Rahman. As he is a Member of Parliament, Gazi Nazrul Islam used to live in that flat in the Nyam building with his second wife Mariam and first wife Makchuda Islam, the case stated.

The case alleged that Mariam had informed her family members over mobile phone at various times that Gazi Nazrul Islam and his first wife had been subjecting her to physical and mental torture over various matters since the marriage.

The FIR further stated that around 5:30pm on September 20, Gazi Nazrul Islam called Mariam's father and asked him to come home quickly. Upon reaching there, he saw many people. Later, he saw Mariam hanging from a fan with an orna wrapped around her neck in a room, according to the FIR. She was rescued after breaking the door with the help of Shere Bangla Nagar Police Station police. The case also stated that several notes written by Mariam were found on the bed at that time.

The plaintiff in the case alleged that Mariam committed suicide as she could not endure the physical and mental torture of the accused and due to their instigation.

After the case was filed, Gazi Nazrul Islam and his first wife Makchuda Islam were produced before the court on Monday noon. They were kept in the CMM court's lockup. Later, police applied for a seven-day remand for interrogating the two.

Earlier, in July last year, several videos of Mariam Khatun's personal moments with Gazi Nazrul Islam spread on social media, sparking discussion about him. Following that incident, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami expelled Gazi Nazrul Islam from the party on July 22. The party said his moral turpitude was proven in an organisational investigation, and he was expelled under Article 62 of the party constitution.