A Dhaka court on Wednesday sent Obaidur Rahman, the maternal uncle of Jamaat-e-Islami MP Gazi Nazrul Islam’s second wife Mariam, to jail in a case filed over her alleged suicide.
Obaidur was produced before the court following his arrest, with the investigation officer, Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Detective Branch (DB) Tejgaon Zonal Team Inspector Mohammad Salahuddin, seeking an order to keep him in jail.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ariful Islam ordered that Obaidur be sent to jail, said Rafiqul Islam, an SI with the prosecution division. He said no bail petition was filed on behalf of the accused.
In its application seeking to keep Obaidur in jail, police said they had found evidence suggesting his involvement in the incident involving Mariam’s death.
The application said the investigation found that Obaidur had been involved in various activities concerning MP Nazrul even before Mariam’s marriage to him. The investigation is ongoing, and police may seek his remand later, if necessary, it added.
Police recovered Mariam’s hanging body from a flat at NAM Bhaban, opposite the parliament complex, on Sunday evening.
That night, police took MP Gazi Nazrul Islam and his first wife, Maksuda Islam, into custody. Mariam’s father, SM Masum Billah, later filed a case accusing Nazrul, Maksuda and Obaidur of abetting her suicide.
The following day, a Dhaka court granted Nazrul four days’ remand and Maksuda one day’s remand following separate applications by police. The case was transferred to the DB later that night.
After completing her remand, Maksuda was sent to jail on Tuesday, while Nazrul remains on four-day remand.
According to the case statement, Mariam married MP Nazrul in June following the “direct instigation” of her maternal uncle Obaidur Rahman, according to her father’s allegation.
The statement said Mariam lived with Nazrul and Maksuda at Flat 203 of NAM Bhaban No 5, opposite the parliament complex.
Mariam had told her family that Nazrul and Maksuda had subjected her to physical and mental abuse over various issues since the marriage, according to the case statement.
At around 5:30pm on Sunday, Nazrul called Mariam’s father and asked him to come to the flat immediately, the statement said. Upon arriving, her father found her hanging.
He also claimed that a suicide note written by Mariam was found on her bed.
The case statement said Mariam may have died by suicide between 3pm and 5:30pm on Sunday.
On July 20, an intimate video allegedly showing Mariam and MP Nazrul at a hotel in Dhaka’s Moghbazar was circulated on Facebook. Jamaat leaders and activists initially claimed that the video had been created using artificial intelligence.
Nazrul later said in a Facebook post that the woman was his second wife.
Jamaat-e-Islami subsequently decided to expel Gazi Nazrul on July 22, saying an organizational investigation had found evidence of moral misconduct. The opposition later informed the speaker and the Election Commission of the decision.
