A 60-year-old female advocate was strangulated to death allegedly by unidentified miscreants at her flat in the capital's Mirpur area yesterday morning.
The deceased Rowshan Ara was the wife of Mahboob-e-Sattar, an associate professor of Dhaka University.
The killing happened around 10:00am when Sattar and his physician daughter Rezwana Akhter Mahboob were outside their flat on the second floor of a six-storey building at Mirpur section-6.
Two security guards of the building — Russell and Saiful -- went into hiding immediately after the incident, said Abu Sayeed, secretary of the building's apartment owners association.
Rezwana told The Daily Star she was informed about the killing by Sayeed over the phone. She was at her uncle's at that time.
Rezwana's wedding is supposed to be held on January 25.
"I found my mother's phone at the front door of our flat, and my mother's body was on the floor of the master bedroom. Her hands were tied up and the throat was twisted around with a piece of a cloth to choke," shesaid.
The household goods were found strewn all over the room, she added.
Sattar, husband of the deceased, told this correspondent they had not had any domestic help for the last two months.
"I left home at 8:30 am to cast my vote at the Dhaka University Teachers Association (DUTA) elections", hesaid.
" I talked to my wife over the phone around 10:00am and told her that I would return home in the afternoon."
"Around 10:45 am, I ranged her up again but got no response," Sattar said.
Failing to get any response from his wife, Sattar phoned to Sayeed around 11:30am and asked him to check on her.
"Sayeed went to my flat and found its door ajar," he said, adding "Sayeed went inside the flat and found my wife lying dead on the floor."
Rafiqul Islam, a subinspector of Mirpur Police Station, said police seized a pair of sandals, a knife and some blood-stained materials from the spot.
Dhaka Medical College morgue sources said, RowshanAra was strangled to death and no mark of stab inj ury was found in her body.