Police have arrested domestic worker Ayesha in connection with the murder of 48-year-old Laila Afroz and her 15-year-old daughter, Nafisa Lawal binte Aziz, who were found with their throats slit in their Mohammadpur home on Monday. Mohammadpur Zone ADC Jewel Rana confirmed that Ayesha was detained from Nalchiti in Jhalakathi on Wednesday, along with her husband Rabbi. Police also recovered a laptop from them.
Laila, a housewife, and Nafisa, a ninth-grade student of Mohammadpur Preparatory School, lived on Shahjahan Road with Nafisa’s father, AZ Azizul Islam, a physics teacher at Sunbeams School. Azizul left home around 7am for work as usual but returned early due to exams. Upon arriving around 11am, he discovered the bodies and cried for help, after which neighbours alerted police.
CCTV footage from the building shows Ayesha, about 20 years old, entering the flat at 7:51am wearing a burqa and leaving at 9:36am wearing Nafisa’s school uniform and a mask. Police say the security guard, Khalek, let her in assuming she was coming for work, and later failed to recognize her in disguise. Khalek was taken into custody for questioning and said Ayesha had come to the house seeking work four days earlier, though he did not know her previously.
A murder case was filed by Azizul Islam on Monday night. Ayesha is being brought to Dhaka for further interrogation. On Tuesday, a Dhaka court ordered investigators to submit the case report by January 13.
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