Man arrested within 24 hours for killing wife, staging suicide in Munshiganj

The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) arrested a man within 24 hours of allegedly killing his wife and trying to stage the incident as a suicide in Munshiganj's Tongibari upazila.

The accused, Muhasin Matubbar, 32, later confessed to the killing in a statement recorded before a court under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, according to the PBI. Muhasin, son of Omar Ali Matubbar of Bahara village in Gopalganj's Muksudpur upazila, served as the imam of East Baligaon Jame Mosque in Tongibari. According to the PBI, Asma Akter, 26, lived with her husband and four-year-old daughter in a rented house in East Baligaon.

Investigators said the couple often quarrelled after Muhasin discovered Asma had concealed her two previous marriages. An argument on the night before the incident allegedly escalated into an assault.

The PBI said another argument erupted around 10:30am on 6 July after breakfast had not been prepared. When Asma complained of a headache, Muhasin allegedly verbally abused her over her previous marriages. Around 11:10am, he allegedly slapped her, grabbed her by the throat and pushed her, causing her to fall onto a wooden platform and sustain fatal injuries, according to PBI.

Investigators said he then tried to stage the death as a suicide by hanging before fleeing with their four-year-old daughter. The victim's brother, Shamim Talukdar, filed a murder case with Tongibari Police Station on 7 July. A special PBI team, working under the supervision of Additional Superintendent of Police Asma Ara Jahan and using information technology, arrested Muhasin from the Batikamari Bazar area of Muksudpur upazila in Gopalganj on 7 July.

According to the agency, he confessed during interrogation and repeated the confession before a magistrate under Section 164. "The investigation is ongoing," PBI said.