Ferdous Wahid’s nieces allegedly barred from entering their late father’s house

Nieces of Bangladeshi pop legend Ferdous Wahid have lodged a police complaint stating that they have been denied access to their father’s house in Dhaka’s Gulshan.

Mushfiqar Mustafa and Mubashira Mustafa, daughters of Ferdous’s late brother Mustafa Jaglul Wahid, filed a general diary or GD with Gulshan police on Oct 12.

The sisters complained that a woman named Anju Kapoor, who claimed to be Jaglul Wahid’s second wife, was not letting them into the home.

An Indian national, Kapoor, on the other hand, has also filed a GD with the police bringing allegations of trespassing against the two.

Gulshan Police OC Abul Hasan said they were looking into the issues centring the Gulshan-2 house on Road No. 95 on an approximately 16.5 decimal piece of land.

Jaglul went into retirement as a retired captain of Bangladesh Air Force in 2005 and separated from his wife the same year. His wife later moved to another house in Gulshan.

Mushfiqar lives with her mother and Mubashira used to live in the United States with her husband.

After Jaglul’s death and burial on Oct 10, they wanted to visit their father’s home but were barred, leading to the GD on Oct 12.

On Saturday, they again tried their luck but were met with the same treatment, the sisters complained.

Born in India’s Bengaluru, Kapoor has been living in Dhaka for nearly a decade. She is Managing Director of Ariana Styles Limited - a clothing company.

She is the sister to Bollywood actor and producer Dhirajj Kapoor.

“We are checking the marriage documents she has submitted,” said Aminul Islam, an inspector at Gulshan Police Station.

Since she is an Indian citizen, she cannot have assets registered against her name by a Bangladeshi, he pointed out.

“We’ve received a document that she got a third of Jaglul’s assets through a will as per the law. We are checking that too,” he added.

Ferdous Wahid told bdnews24.com that Kapoor was indeed his brother’s wife.

“She is a Hindu. But they had a civil marriage under a British-era law,” he said.

Asked about his nieces, he said Kapoor denied the two sisters entry because she might have felt insecure as they had gone to the house after a long time.

“But no-one will be able to deny their rights,” he said, adding that the matter should be settled in court.

He denied a claim that the siblings of Jaglul were helping Kapoor.

“I'm not the owner of this house. Now it naturally belongs to the heirs to my brother,” Ferdous said.

He also denied the allegation raised by his nieces that his father’s body was prevented from being buried at Banani Graveyard.

He said Jaglul was buried at Mirpur Intellectuals Graveyard because he had tested positive for COVID-19.