Death Sentence for Wife in Six-Piece Murder Case

A Dhaka court has sentenced a woman to death for the brutal killing and dismemberment of her husband, in a case that shocked the capital five years ago. The verdict was delivered on Thursday by the Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge of Dhaka, Nazmun Nahar Nipu, concluding a high-profile murder trial centred on a crime committed in the Mahakhali area.

The convicted, Fatema Begum, also known as Shilpi, was found guilty of murdering her husband, Moina Mia, an auto-rickshaw driver. Following the killing, his body was cut into six parts and disposed of at multiple locations across Dhaka in an apparent attempt to conceal the crime.

In addition to the death sentence for murder, the court also handed down seven years’ imprisonment for concealing the body, along with a fine of 10,000 taka. In default of payment, she will serve an additional three months of simple imprisonment.

According to prosecution details presented in court, police recovered a headless torso from a drum in the Amtoli area of Mahakhali on the night of 30 May 2021. Later the same night, dismembered limbs were discovered in a bag near the Ena bus counter at the Mahakhali bus terminal. Over the course of two days, law enforcement recovered six separate parts of the body from different locations, triggering a major criminal investigation.

The case was subsequently taken up by the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Gulshan Division. Investigators arrested Fatema within approximately 12 hours of the initial breakthrough.

During interrogation and later in her confession, she admitted to the killing, citing domestic disputes, financial disagreements, and issues related to multiple marriages as the background to the conflict. She stated that she sedated her husband with sleeping tablets before killing him and then dismembering the body. The remains were packed into different containers and bags before being dumped at separate sites across the city.

The prosecution said that the second wife of the victim, Nasrin, filed the murder case at Tejgaon Industrial Police Station on 1 June 2021. A charge sheet was submitted in October 2022 after investigation, and formal charges were framed in March 2023, marking the start of the trial.

Out of 26 witnesses listed, 17 gave testimony before the court. The accused later gave a confessional statement and also testified in her own defence, maintaining her innocence during the trial proceedings. After hearing final arguments, the court delivered its verdict, bringing the long-running case to a close.