Police move for 7-day remand of MP Gazi Nazrul, first wife

Police have moved to seek seven-day remand for Satkhira-4 MP Gazi Nazrul Islam and his first wife, Maksuda Begum, in a case filed over the alleged abetment of suicide of Nazrul’s second wife, Mariam Khatun.

Investigation officer SI Md Shamsuzzoha Sarker of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station confirmed the development on Monday (September 21).

The accused were taken to court for a hearing on the remand plea before Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Ehsanul Islam.

Police had taken Nazrul and Maksuda into custody on Sunday night after recovering Mariam’s hanging body from a flat at NAM Bhaban opposite the Parliament complex.

They were subsequently shown arrested in the case.

Mariam’s father, SM Masum Billah, filed the case against Nazrul, Maksuda and Mariam’s maternal uncle Obaidur Rahman, accusing them of abetting her suicide.

According to the complaint, Mariam, 19, had told her family that she was subjected to physical and mental abuse after her marriage to Nazrul in June.

Police also recovered several handwritten notes from the room where Mariam was found.

Her body was sent to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital for autopsy, while CID investigators collected evidence from the scene.

The case follows a controversy that erupted in July after a video showing Nazrul and Mariam in an intimate moment at a Dhaka hotel circulated on social media. Nazrul later acknowledged Mariam as his second wife.

Jamaat-e-Islami subsequently expelled him from the party over the controversy.