Shimu’s husband thought he got away with murder. But his plan was undone by a spool of thread

Khandaker Sakhawat Alim Nobel, the husband of actress Raima Islam Shimu was the first to report to police that she had gone ‘missing.’ In a twist, it was he who was eventually arrested over her murder.

After Shimu was found dead, her brother Shahidul Islam blamed her husband for her death. But police were struggling to find evidence.

Then, during the investigation, police found a spool of thread which they later matched with the thread used to sew the sacks used to dump Shimu’s body.

The discovery led to police focusing on Nobel, who later confessed to killing his wife during an interrogation.

Dhaka police recovered Shimu’s body on Monday and confirmed her identity using ‘information technology’, they said in a press statement. Police collected evidence from the crime scene and also from Shimu’s home.

“That was when police found the thread in Nobel’s car. That was the clue that led police to suspect Nobel. The car was washed, but the criminals used bleaching powder to get rid of the pungent smell.”

A woman’s body was found in two sacks by the side of the road near the Hazratpur Bridge in the Aliapur area of Keraniganj on Monday afternoon.

The body was identified by Shimu’s elder brother Shahidul Islam Khokon at Dhaka’s Mitford Hospital that night.

The body was stuffed inside two gunny sacks which were stitched with plastic thread in the middle, said Inspector Kazi Ramzanul Haque of Keraniganj Model Police Station.

Raima Islam Shimu made her film debut in Kazi Hayat’s ‘Bartaman’ in 1998. She starred in as many as 25 films with noted film directors including Delwar Jahan Jhantu, Chashi Nazrul Islam, and Sharifuddin Khan Dipu

She was an associate member of the Bangladesh Film Artistes Association. In addition to films, she also worked in TV dramas and produced as well.

The 40-year-old Shimu lived with her husband and two children in Dhaka’s Green Road. She left home on Sunday and never returned. Nobel filed a general diary after she went missing at the Kalabagan Police Station on Monday.