A mother committed suicide after giving her two daughters poison in the capital’s Kafrul area yesterday allegedly because of her husband’s extramarital affair.
The deceased were Jahanara Begum, 35, wife of Mohammed Islam, and their daughters Habiba Akhter Hawa, 12, and Sharmin Akhter Joya, 8.
Jahanara poisoned her daughters and took her won life the same way succumbing to the stress of her husband’s affair outside their marriage, said Hafizur Rahman, assistant sub-inspector of Kafrul Police Station, based on the information given by locals.
The incident took place around noon when locals broke into the tin-shed house of the family hearing the children crying in the house. They found the mother and the daughters lying on the floor gasping and foaming at the mouth, said neighbours, adding that Islam was not in the house then.
The neighbours said, when they entered the house they heard the elder daughter crying, “Mom what have you fed us!”
The three were rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where the doctors declared them dead.
Islam, who owns a laundry-cum-stationary store around 100 yards away from home, went into hiding soon after the incident.
Neighbour Ferdousy Begum said she overheard a light argument of the couple around 7:30am. She heard Islam telling Jahanara to leave the house while the wife remained silent.
Another neighbour Rokeya Begum said the children returned home from school around 10:30am. At about 11:00am, the couple was seen calm and talking to each other, said Sajeda Begum, who owns a shop adjacent to Islam’s.
However, about half an hour later Rokeya heard cries from Islam’s house and rushed to find what happened. There, next to the succumbing three, she saw a pot of milk, squashed pineapple pulps and almost an empty bottle of powdered poison.
Abdul Latif, officer-in-charge of the police station, said they were looking for Islam.
-With The Daily Star input
