Staff Reporter :
A Dhaka court has placed domestic worker Mosammat Ayesha on a six-day remand and her husband, Rabbi, on a three-day remand in connection with the killing of mother and daughter in Mohammadpur in the capital.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbub Alam granted the remand orders on Thursday after hearing a police petition seeking 10 days of interrogation. State lawyers Harunur Rashid and Kaiyum Hossain Nayan supported the request, while no defence lawyer was present.
Police arrested the couple on Wednesday morning from Charkoya village in Nalchhiti, Jhalakathi, roughly 60 hours after the crime. According to investigators, the breakthrough came after analysing past theft cases, tracing an old mobile number linked to Ayesha, and following manual leads because there was no clear CCTV image or formal identification on file.
On 8 December, 48-year-old homemaker Laila Afroze and her 15-year-old daughter, Nafisa Lawal Binte Aziz, were found fatally injured inside their seventh-floor apartment on Shahjahan Road. The family’s new part-time domestic worker, Ayesha, who had joined only four days earlier, disappeared immediately after the incident.
Laila’s husband, AJM Azizul Islam, a teacher at Sunbeams School in Uttara, filed a murder case the same day, naming Ayesha as the suspect.
He told police he had repeatedly tried to reach his wife by phone after leaving home for work early that morning.
When he returned late morning, he found both victims severely wounded. A neighbour helped rush the daughter to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared her dead.
Azizul Islam said CCTV footage showed Ayesha entering the flat at 7:51am and leaving at 9:35am dressed in the girl’s school uniform. He reported that valuables including a phone, laptop, jewellery and cash were missing.
At a briefing at the DMP Media Centre, Additional Commissioner NS Nazrul Islam said the murder allegedly took place following a confrontation over stealing Tk 2,000.
He said investigators had faced a major challenge: Ayesha had no verified photo, National ID, or mobile number recorded with the family, and CCTV footage showed her fully covered, making recognition difficult.
With no digital leads around the crime scene, investigators reviewed previous theft complaints involving domestic workers.
They noticed patterns including burn marks on the neck, past residence in Geneva Camp and earlier theft allegations.
One victim from Humayun Road had provided an old mobile number, which police traced to Rabbi. Further investigation confirmed Rabbi’s wife was Ayesha and that the couple had recently lived in Geneva Camp – details that matched the complainant’s description.
Police raided several locations including Hemayetpur, Ashulia, Barishal and Patuakhali before finally arresting the couple in Nalchhiti. Officers recovered a stolen laptop during the arrest.
According to police, Ayesha admitted during preliminary questioning that she had stolen money shortly after joining the household and argued with Laila when the theft was discovered.
On the day of the killings, she allegedly brought a knife to the flat, a dispute escalated, and both mother and daughter were fatally attacked when the teenager tried to intervene.
Afterward, she changed clothes, wore the daughter’s school uniform, took valuables in a backpack and left the apartment.
Police say she later discarded a bag containing clothes and a phone in a river near Singair Bridge while fleeing Dhaka.
Investigators also stated that Ayesha had a history of theft, including allegedly stealing money and gold from her sister’s home. She had previously been detained by police for theft in the Humayun Road area.
Additional Commissioner Nazrul Islam urged residents to verify the identity of domestic workers, saying households should keep copies of identification and contact details of those who refer them. “Your personal safety is linked to the people who work inside your home,” he said.
