PWD Engineer couple held on remand over Dhanmondi child maid murder case

A Dhaka court has placed a Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) additional chief engineer and his wife on a two-day remand in a case over the alleged murder of a 9-year-old domestic worker in the capital’s Dhanmondi area.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md. Ismail passed the order on Saturday (June 20) after hearing a police petition seeking 10-day remand for interrogation.

The accused, BWDB Additional Chief Engineer Sabibur Rahman, 46, and his wife Farah Nusrat, 40, were earlier arrested in connection with the case.

According to a press release issued by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), the victim, Rikta Moni, had come to Dhaka due to her family’s financial hardship and started working as a domestic help at the engineer’s residence. She was allegedly subjected to both physical and mental torture while working there.

Police said the incident took place on Friday morning when the child fell from the balcony of an 11-storey building in Dhanmondi around 6:00 am. She was immediately taken to Bangladesh Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared her dead.

Investigators said multiple injury marks were found on the victim’s body, including a broken left arm, raising suspicion of prior abuse. Shortly after the incident, at around 3:30am in the early hours of Friday night, Sabibur Rahman and his wife Farah Nusrat were detained by police.

Following the incident, the victim’s father filed a murder case at Dhanmondi Police Station, after which both suspects were shown arrested and produced before the court. The investigating officer sought a 10-day remand, but after hearing both sides, the court granted a two-day remand for further interrogation.

Police said the investigation into the incident is ongoing.