Staff Reporter :
A 38-year-old woman, Afroza Begum, who was arrested by police on Saturday at midnight, died in police custody in Jashore’s Abhaynagar upazila on Sunday morning.
Her family has alleged that she was tortured and killed after being falsely implicated.
Afroza, the wife of Jalil Molla from North Bengal Road of the upazila, was detained by police officers, who her family claims planted yaba tablets on her.
According to the deceased’s family, ASI Silon Ali and ASI Shamsul Haque of Abhaynagar Police Station, along with several other officers, raided their house around midnight on Saturday.
They alleged that the police officers not only planted drugs on Afroza but also looted TK1.80 lakh, which the family had received from selling their battery-operated autorickshaw, and demanded a bribe of TK2 lakh.
“The police officers tied her hair to a fan and beat her. Around 1 am, they took her to the police station. The next morning, we found her very ill at the station.
After pleading with the police, she was taken to the Upazila Health Complex,” said her eldest son, Munna Molla.
Munna added that although doctors prescribed some tests, the police did not allow them to be conducted and took her back to the police station.
Later, when she fell ill again, they prepared to take her to Jashore General Hospital, but she died on the way.
Afroza died around 11:30 am on Sunday while being transported from Abhaynagar to Jashore General Hospital.
However, the police claimed that Afroza, who was detained with drugs, died due to a heart condition.
They stated that she was found with 30 yaba pills and a case was filed against her at Abhaynagar Police Station.
Additional Superintendent of Police in Jashore (Abhaynagar Circle) Zahidul Islam asserted that the police had provided her with medical care and were sending her to the city for better treatment.
Dr. Abdus Samad, the resident medical officer at Jashore General Hospital, confirmed that Afroza was brought in dead and said that the cause of death could not be determined without an autopsy.