Film actress Raima Islam Shimu, whose body was found in a sack near the Hazratpur bridge at Keraniganj in Dhaka Monday morning, was strangulated to death Sunday morning, according to primary forensic reports.
Raima’s husband Shakhawat Ali Nobel and his friend SMY Abdullah Farhad were remanded in police custody on Tuesday over the murder incident after they had been arrested, earlier, in this connection.
Chief judicial magistrate Rabeya Begum put them on remand for three days after the Keraniganj police produced the duo before the court seeking 10-day remand for each, said the court’s general recording officer sub-inspector Nurunnabi.
While briefing media Tuesday afternoon, Dhaka district’s police superintendent Maruf Hossain Sarder said that Shakhawat had admitted to the murder in primary interrogation and Farhad had helped him in dumping the body.
On Sunday, Shakhawat filed a general diary with Kalabagan police station that Raima went missing on Sunday after she had left their Green Road house for shooting at Mawa in Munshiganj.
The police found the body of a woman in a sack near the Hazratpur bridge of Keraniganj at about 10:00am on Monday and sent it to Mitford Hospital morgue for post-mortem examination.
Later, the victim was identified as actress Raima.
Primarily, family and professional issues were taken into consideration as part of the police investigation.
Shakhawat was arrested as he was giving contradictory statements in interrogation raising suspicion about his involvement.
The police also seized the car that was used to carry the body to Keraniganj for dumping, said the police officer.
The murder took place over family feud, the officer said without elaborating further.
Maruf said that Shakhawat murdered the actress between 7:00am and 8:00am on Sunday and Farhad helped in driving the car and dumping the body.
Mitford Hospital forensic department chief Sohel Mahmud told New Age that in primary tests, they had found that Raima was strangled to death Sunday morning.
There were no other immediate external injuries. There were marks of minor injuries on her hand and back, which might be from any earlier incident, said the physician.
Raima’s brother Shahidul Islam Khokhon said that his sister got married with Nobel in 2003.
The couple, earlier, had some disputes, but those were nothing major, he said.
Shakhawat had motor-parts business, but he has been unemployed for the past few years.
Shahidul ruled out any suspicion of professional dispute that might led to the murder.
He said that Shakhawat had been addicted to drug for the past few years, which might have led to family dispute.
Shahidul said that he noticed blood strain in the car, which aroused suspicion against Nobel.
Raima debuted in the film industry in 1998.
-With New Age input
