An 18-year-old woman was hacked to death after assailants allegedly entered a house in Madaripur’s Kalikapur area on Tuesday evening. The attackers fled with an iPhone belonging to the victim, who was the wife of a Bangladeshi expatriate working in Qatar.
The victim, Ivy Akter, was the daughter of Aslam Sharif of Kalikapur in Madaripur Sadar upazila and the wife of Mohammad Ferdous, a resident of Shariatpur who is currently living in Qatar. The incident took place on Tuesday (8 September) evening.
According to police and local residents, Ivy had lived at the home of her uncle, Kalam Sharif, from an early age because of financial hardship in her family. About a year ago, she married Ferdous, who subsequently travelled to Qatar in an effort to improve the family’s financial circumstances. As her husband was abroad, Ivy had recently returned to her uncle’s house for a visit.
The attack occurred when the house was largely empty. On Tuesday evening, Kalam Sharif left the residence to attend prayers at a nearby mosque. Other members of the family were in Madaripur town to consult a doctor, leaving Ivy at home.
When Kalam returned after prayers, he found Ivy lying inside the house in a blood-soaked condition. She had suffered multiple injuries caused by a sharp weapon. Realising that she had been killed, he raised the alarm, prompting neighbours to rush to the scene and contact the police.
Police later recovered the body and sent it to the mortuary of the 250-bed Madaripur District Hospital for a post-mortem examination. The examination is expected to help establish the nature and extent of the injuries sustained by the victim.
Investigators initially suspect that the attackers may have entered the house intending to steal Ivy’s iPhone. Police believe she may have recognised or confronted them, after which she was attacked with a sharp weapon. The assailants allegedly took the phone and escaped.
However, police have not yet confirmed that robbery was the motive. Investigators are also examining whether the killing could have stemmed from a family dispute or another personal motive. Establishing how the attackers entered the house, whether anything else was taken and whether Ivy knew any of them will be important to determining what happened.
Kalam Sharif said he found Ivy dead and covered in blood after returning from the mosque and immediately informed the police. He called for the identification and exemplary punishment of everyone involved in the killing.
Madaripur Sadar Model Police Station officer-in-charge Abul Kalam Azad said marks of sharp-weapon injuries had been found on different parts of the victim’s body. He said investigators were looking into both the possibility of a theft-related killing and the possibility of a family dispute.
No one had been detained in connection with the murder at the time of the report. Police said an investigation was under way and efforts were continuing to identify and apprehend those responsible.
The killing has left the victim’s family facing questions over why an apparently isolated young woman was targeted inside the house. Investigators will now have to establish whether the stolen iPhone was the primary motive or merely part of a wider sequence of events surrounding the murder.
