Police have recovered the bodies of a mother and daughter from a seventh-floor flat on Shahjahan Road in Mohammadpur, Dhaka. Investigators suspect that a recently hired housemaid may have been involved in the killings, which occurred on Monday morning.
The deceased, housewife Laila Afroze (48) and her only daughter, Nafisa Binte Aziz (15), had been living in the flat for several years. The family head, Azizul Islam, a teacher in Uttara, left for work as usual. Upon returning after school exams, he found the flat door open. Entering the drawing room, he saw his wife and daughter severely injured. Neighbours rushed them to hospital, but doctors declared Nafisa dead. Police later recovered Laila’s body. Their ancestral home is in Natore district, and they lived opposite Residential Model School and College on Shahjahan Road.
CCTV footage analysed by police shows a young woman in a burqa entering the building at 7:51am. She was the newly employed housemaid, Ayesha, who had joined four days earlier. At 9:36am, she was seen leaving in Nafisa’s school uniform, carrying a bag and wearing a mask. The security guard at the gate did not recognise her.
Investigators found blood stains at the entrance and inside the flat, overturned furniture, and ransacked cupboards and bags. Evidence of a struggle was noted. Two sharp knives were recovered from the bathroom and sent for forensic testing.
Police believe that after killing Laila, Nafisa attempted to use the intercom to contact the security guard but could not. The maid then cleaned herself in the bathroom, wore Nafisa’s school uniform, and left the flat.
Azizul Islam said the maid had been interviewed by his wife and employed four days prior. She had no identity papers but claimed her name was Ayesha, that she lived with relatives in Geneva Camp, Rangpur, and that her parents had died in a fire, leaving burn scars on her body.
The building’s security guard, Khalek, has been taken into police custody. He stated that he allowed the woman to enter in a burqa and later did not recognise her due to the mask.
Tejgaon Deputy Commissioner Ibn-e-Mizan told Ganodesh, “Only one person appears in the footage. We are matching her movements and timings. A special team is working to locate and arrest the absconding housemaid. DB police are also involved. The investigation will check if anything was stolen and the motive behind the killings.”
The mother and daughter’s bodies were sent to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College for post-mortem. Police said further investigation will reveal if others were involved, but the current focus remains on locating the fugitive housemaid.
Glive24/SS