The family of Tania Akhter, whose body was found hanging at her in-law’s house last Friday, has claimed that the 22-year-old housewife was murdered by the family of her husband.

Tania had been living at her in-laws house in the capital’s Tekerbari since her marriage to Ratan Miji, an expatriate living in Bahrain, a year and a half ago. The victim’s family claimed that Tania had regular quarrels with her in-laws as Ratan wanted to arrange for her to come live with him in Bahrain.

However, before Tania could make arrangements to travel to her husband, she was found dead. The in-laws, who had gone into hiding following the incident, notified the police after allegedly finding Tania’s hanging body on the early morning of October 24.

Tania’s parents – Md Barkatullah and Nurjahan – said Tania’s in-laws feared that Ratan, who was the sole breadwinner of the family with his brother Tuku being unemployed, would stop sending money if his wife went to live with him in Bahrain. This issue triggered many fights, they claimed.

Only a day after Tania had sent photocopies of her passport to Ratan to arrange for her to join him abroad, she was mysteriously found dead, the victim’s family claimed, adding that Tania’s in-laws had hanged her body from the ceiling after killing her, in an attempt to stage the death as a suicide.

“There is no reason for her to commit suicide. We demand a fair investigation and want the culprits to be punished,” said Md Kausar, a cousin of Tania.