A man has been accused of hacking his sleeping wife to death with a cleaver while visiting a relative’s house in Narail Sadar upazila. Police have arrested the accused husband, Sakib Sheikh, 25, in connection with the incident.
The incident took place in the Bahirgram area of the sadar upazila around midnight on Tuesday.
The deceased was identified as Chandni Akter Khadija, 20, daughter of Kalam Sheikh of Alka village in Phultala upazila of Khulna. The accused Sakib Sheikh is a resident of Damodar village in the same upazila.
According to police and local sources, Sakib and Chandni had travelled from Phultala in Khulna to the house of Sakib’s maternal aunt-in-law in Bahirgram on Monday for a family visit.
Police said the couple often had family disputes as Sakib was allegedly addicted to drugs and unwilling to work. Following the disputes, Sakib allegedly attacked Chandni with a cleaver while she was asleep in the house around 1:30am on Tuesday night, leaving her critically injured.
Relatives rushed her to Narail District Hospital, where the on-duty doctor declared her dead.
Police said there had initially been an attempt to portray the incident as an accident. However, investigators became suspicious and the actual incident emerged during questioning.
Narail Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Ajay Kumar Kundu said the family initially claimed Chandni was injured after accidentally falling on a cleaver.
“However, inconsistencies in the evidence collected from the scene and Sakib’s statements raised suspicion. During interrogation, he later confessed to killing his wife,” the OC said.
