Police recover two bodies from a car in Dhaka's Elenbari

An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the deaths, according to police

The bodies of a woman and a man have been retrieved from a car parked in a garage at the government officers' quarters in Dhaka's Elenbari.

The authorities identified the man as 53-year-old Delwar Hossain Molla, an office assistant at a government office. The woman next to him was named Moushumi Akhtar Rani, 42.

Police were informed about the discovery of the bodies around 7:30 am on Wednesday, according to Inspector Shah Alam of Tejgaon Police Station.

Law enforcers subsequently recovered the bodies and sent them to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital's morgue.

The car belonged to Delwar, said Alam, adding that the police were investigating the cause of their deaths.

However, Delwar and Moushumi were not related, according to Apoorba Hasan, chief of Tejgaon Police Station.

"We suspect that they passed out in the car after engaging in sexual acts while on drugs or other stimulants. They may have then died of suffocation or some other cause.”

Locals found their unclothed bodies inside the covered car, the engine of which was turned on and attracted the attention of locals. Police said locals called Delwar’s brother after they were able to recognise him. The law enforcers recovered the bodies from inside the car after the brother drove the vehicle to the garage of the staff quarters.

Azimul Haque, a deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said police recovered the bodies from the rear seats of the car.

Citing family sources, Mahmud Khan, an assistant commissioner of DMP, said Delwar worked for the ride-sharing service Uber at night until the early morning after his work hours at a government office. On Tuesday, he went out with his car as usual and was found dead along with Rani.

“A small bottle inside the car had some evidence (of substance abuse)”, Mahmud Khan said, adding that they collected it and will send it to the Criminal Investigation Department of police for tests. A team of the CID visited the scene, and the car is currently in police custody.

Rani is a resident of Ismanichar in Munshiganj’s Gajaria. Her husband abandoned her and their two children, according to Mahmud.

“Rani’s phone was found at the spot. Her brother Jalal Uddin confirmed her identity when police contacted her. But he couldn’t say anything about where Rani lived in Dhaka and what she did for a living,” Mahmud said.

A lot of the mobile numbers saved in Rani’s phone belonged to different rickshaw pullers and autorickshaw drivers. Police contacted the drivers and got to know that they used to “pick Rani up from different spots after receiving a call and then dropped her off”.

Rani and Delwar’s family declined to comment on the matter when they were contacted over the phone.