The husband of the 28-year-old female doctor found dead in a Dhaka hotel room has confessed to killing her, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) said on Friday.
"During sustained interrogation, Rezaul Karim Reza told us that he took his wife, Dr Jannatul Nayeem Sritika, to the hotel on the pretext of celebrating her birthday and then stabbed her before slitting her throat," said Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director, legal and media wing, at RAB headquarters.
Reza was arrested on Thursday night by members of RAB-2 and RAB-7 from the Muradpur area of Chittagong city.
On August 10, Sritika's body was recovered from the fifth-floor room of the Family Service Apartment in the Panthapath area of the capital.
Sritika was undertaking gynecology training from Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) after completing her MBBS from Moghbazar Community Medical College.
The next day, a case was filed at Kalabagan police station accusing Reza, following a complaint from the victim's father.
Reza, who works as a senior executive at a private company, hails from Cox’s Bazar.
RAB recovered Reza’s blood-stained clothes, mobile phone and his wife's cell phone from his possession, post-arrest.
According to Reza’s confession, Reza and Sritika grew close to each other after meeting on social media in 2019 and got married secretly in 2020. As their families were not informed about the marriage, they used to meet at different hotels in the city.
"Sritika and Reza often used to fight over the latter's extra-marital affairs as counselling and discussions on the matter failed to resolve the issue. As the marital feud grew, Reza planned to murder his wife to get rid of her," said a RAB officer.
On August 10, Reza took her to the hotel to celebrate her birthday, got into a planned fight and then stabbed Sritika with a knife to later slit her throat, according to RAB.
Following the crime, the accused left the hotel room locking the door from outside and fled to Chittagong by bus, said RAB.
“Legal action against the accused is underway,” said Commander Khandaker.