Police recovered the body of a female domestic help from in front of her employer's residence in the city's Dhanmondi yesterdaymorning.

Her employer Moinuddin, an NCC Bank official of Dhanmondi Branch, claimed that the victim, Shila Akhter, 25, died in fall from the rooftop of the six-storey building.

Moinuddin said Shila was trying to flee with some valuables from his apartment on the fifth floor. The housemaid tied up his wife Shahinur Begum and gagged her mouth with scotch tape before snatching the valuables, he added.

Locals, however, said they found no snatched goods with the body and suspected that the housemaid was murdered and dropped from the rooftop. They vandalised windows of the apartment, throwing masonries.

The locals found Shila's body around 11:00am as it falls with loud sound.

Sub-inspector Mahiuddin of Dhanmondi Police Station said police detained Shahinur for interrogation. He said police found no eyewitness, and sent the body to Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy around 11:55am.

Moinuddin told reporters that his wife was home alone as he went to his workplace yesterday morning. As a neighbour informed him over phone of the incident of snatching, he called the security guard instantly over phone to lock the gate to stop her. Seeing the main gate closed, Shila went to the rooftop andjumped off to escape, he claimed.

Officer-in-Charge of Dhanmondi Police Station Moniruzzaman said police would investigate into the matter to discover if it was a murder.