TURA: West Garo Hills police are on the lookout for an advocate who has gone ‘missing’ after the death of his wife in what is suspected to be a case of murder after the victim’s family filed a police complaint accusing him of murdering his spouse.
The lawyer, Jahirul Islam Sarkar, has been charged by the family of the deceased of murdering his wife and making it look like a case of suicide.
The death of Rezia Sultana Begum, mother of two children, reportedly took place at Old Bhaitbari village on October 1st, and a day later, the mother of Rezia filed an FIR at Phulbari police station accusing the husband of murder.
The FIR mentioned that Rezia had been married to Sarkar for the last seven years and it was the second marriage for either of them.
While Rezia has two children from her previous marriage, Sarkar’s first wife resides in Phatarkata village of Phulbari.
Sarkar is accused of murdering his wife because there had been marital discord between the two for the last couple of years. He had allegedly been seeking separation which had been refused by his wife and family.
The mother of the deceased, in her FIR, mentions that there had been a heated exchange between the couple on the night before the wife’s death and the younger brother of the victim had allegedly been kept confined in another room.
According to police sources, Sarkar was the first to inform police about the ‘suicide’ of his wife and had ‘actively’ participated in all required formalities for the funeral after the autopsy.
He disappeared as soon as he came to know about the FIR registered against him charging him with the death of his wife and making it appear to look like a case of suicide.
The family of the victim have expressed anger over the alleged failure of the police to detain the husband after the death of his wife.
“He (Sarkar) was allowed to enter the room after the death of his wife even though police investigation was being conducted and there was no seriousness on the part of the police investigation to detain and question Sarkar. This delay helped him evade arrest and now he cannot be found,” alleged family members.
The family is contemplating to move the courts for an inquiry to be conducted either by the state CID branch of the police or the CBI.
However, West Garo Hills district police chief, MGR Kumar, clarified that shortly after police received the FIR against Sarkar on October 2nd police team was sent to detain him but the suspect had already gone absconding.
“We are taking all steps to trace and accused the arrest. Necessary instructions have been relayed to the investigation officer in this matter,” said the district SP.