Burnt body of housewife found in locked Gazipur room, husband among two detained

Neighbours cut through the corrugated iron fence to enter the room after sensing a strong smell of burning plastic and flesh

Police have recovered the burnt body of a housewife from a locked room in Gazipur, detaining her husband and the building's caretaker for questioning.

The incident took place at a tin-shed colony owned by Md Raju Mia near Notun Bazar on Friday evening, Konabari Police chief Md Iftekhar Hossain said.

The victim, Farjana Akter, 18, had been living in the rented flat with her husband Md Babu, 35.

Babu and the building's caretaker Md Roman, 27, were detained for questioning after the incident.

Local residents alerted the authorities after noticing a pungent burning odour emanating from the locked room.

Citing them, police said neighbours cut through the tin fence to gain entry and discovered Farjana's charred remains lying on the floor.

A resident then dialled the national emergency helpline 999, prompting Konabari Police to rush to the scene, recover the body, and a bottle of kerosene.

Babu later claimed he had locked his wife inside the room and gone to Konabari market that evening.

He said he received news shortly after that she had burnt to death.

He claimed his wife had long been in an extramarital relationship with the caretaker Roman, which was why he had locked the door before leaving.

Locals said sounds of frequent quarrelling had been coming from the flat for some time, raising questions in many minds about what actually happened.

Officer Iftekhar said the body was sent to the morgue at Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital for a postmortem.

He said police were seriously investigating whether the death was a suicide or had some other cause, and that both Babu and Roman were being questioned.

"More details will be available once the investigation is complete," he added.