DHAKA — The body of Mariam Khatun, 19, the second wife of Gazi Nazrul Islam, a member of parliament from Satkhira-4 constituency, was recovered from a flat at the National Parliament Members’ (NAM) residential complex in Dhaka on Sunday evening, police said.
Police went to the apartment in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar at around 7pm after receiving information that a woman was hanging inside one of the rooms.
According to police, Mariam’s body was seen through a window hanging from a ceiling fan in a room of Flat 203 on the third floor of Building No. 5 at the NAM complex.
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police chief Monirul Islam said officers were still at the scene and that authorities initially suspected suicide. He said further details would be released after the investigation.
Police had not entered the room immediately as officers were awaiting the arrival of forensic teams from the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), who were expected to collect evidence from the scene.
The death comes about two months after Nazrul became the subject of widespread controversy following the circulation of a video on social media showing him with a young woman.
Jamaat-e-Islami expelled him from the party on July 22, saying an internal investigation had found what it described as “moral misconduct.” Nazrul subsequently said the woman in the video was Mariam and that they had married on June 17.
His expulsion also triggered questions over his parliamentary membership. Although the party informed the speaker and the Election Commission about the expulsion, his membership of parliament was not automatically terminated, prompting debate within parliamentary circles.
On Sept. 15, Nazrul told journalists that, despite his expulsion, he remained a Jamaat member “on paper.”
Police have yet to establish the circumstances surrounding Mariam’s death. A forensic examination and further investigation are expected to determine the cause and manner of death.
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