Canada expat woman's murder: Husband's father, brother remanded

A court in Dhaka has placed three people including the husband's father and brother on  one-day remand in connection with a case filed over burial of Canada expatriate Afroza Begum's body at their house premises after killing her at Dakkhin Khan in the capital.

Dakkhin Khan Police Station's sub-inspector and investigation officer of the case Mosammat Rezia Khatun on Friday afternoon said slain Afroza Begum's fugitive husband's father Shamsuddin Ahmed, 79, brother Sajib Alam, 44, and brother's wife Tahmina Bashar, 42, and aunt Panna Chowdhury, 52, were sent to the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's court in the morning.  Police pleaded to the court to place the accused on a 10-day remand. Later, magistrate Shakil Ahmed placed father Shamsuddin Ahmed, brother Sajib Alam, and brother's wife Tahmina Bashar on one-day remand, while ordered husband's aunt Panna Chowdhury to jail.
Earlier at about 11:00pm on Wednesday, the body of 40-year-old Afroza Begum was exhumed digging the premises of the house of Shamsuddin Sarker at Dakkhin Khan. Immediately after exhuming the body, husband's Ashraful Alam's father Shamsuddin Ahmed, brother Sajib Alam, brother's wife Tahmina Bashar and aunt Panna Chowdhury were arrested by police. They were shown arrested in a case filed by the brother of Afroza Begum on Thursday.

The slain Afroza Begum was the daughter of Md Ataullah Mondol of village Nijbhogdaburi under Domar upazila in Nilphamari district. Ashraful was her second husband. With her first husband, Afroza Begum had a son Antu, 23, and a daughter Onnesa, 16. The slain woman, her husband and their two children received Canadian citizenship.

Police said Afroza came to Bangladesh from Canada three months ago. Then she took a decision to buy a land at her village home in Nilphamari. She drew Tk 28 lakh from her bank account. But her husband Ashraful Alam, 48, strongly opposed it. He also spent Tk 2 lakh from the amount which led to quarrels between Afroza and Ashraful. Subsequently, Ashraful fled to Canada with the rest Tk 26 lakh after killing his wife.

END/SZA