Her family suspects that she was murdered after cash and gold jewellery were stolen from the house. However, the allegations have yet to be independently verified, and police are investigating the circumstances surrounding her death.
Ratna was the wife of Sushil Das, a resident of the Kurer Hati area of Khagalia village. Her parental home was in Madhyapara, under Noagaon Union in Sarail upazila, also in Brahmanbaria district.
According to local sources, Ratna went missing from her home on the night of Saturday, 17 October. Her family searched for her in several places but failed to establish her whereabouts. The following day, her husband, Sushil Das, filed a general diary (GD) with Nasirnagar Police Station, formally reporting her disappearance.
The search continued for several days. On Wednesday afternoon, local residents noticed something floating in a pond beside the family home. On approaching it, they discovered the body of a woman with her hands and feet tied. They subsequently alerted the police and members of the family.
Police officers arrived at the scene and recovered the body. Ratna’s relatives later identified her as the missing woman.
The discovery has raised serious concerns among local residents, particularly because she had been missing for several days before her body was found close to her in-laws’ home. The circumstances in which she disappeared, as well as how her body ended up in the pond, remain unclear.
Balram Das, the deceased woman’s cousin-in-law, alleged that intruders had taken cash and gold jewellery from the house before killing her. He claimed that the perpetrators had used rope and stones found inside the house to restrain Ratna before throwing her into the pond.
The family intends to file a case over the incident. The allegations of theft and murder, however, will need to be established through the investigation.
Nasirnagar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Shahinul Islam confirmed that officers had recovered the body after receiving information about the incident. He said the police were trying to determine what had happened.
The body has been sent to the mortuary at Brahmanbaria District Sadar Hospital for a post-mortem examination. The examination is expected to help establish the cause of death, while the police investigation will seek to clarify the circumstances of Ratna’s disappearance and identify anyone responsible for the incident.
As investigators work to piece together the events leading to her death, the family is left awaiting answers about what happened to Ratna during the four days she was missing.
