A gruesome discovery has shocked residents of Nawabganj upazila in Dhaka district after police recovered the body of a female street vendor from roadside bushes on Sunday morning. The victim had been missing since the previous morning, leaving her family desperate for answers before the tragic revelation unfolded.
Police identified the deceased as 48-year-old Padma Rani Majhi, wife of Dayal Majhi, a impoverished farmer residing in the Char Khulshi Chak area under Yantrail union. To support her family amidst financial hardship, Padma Rani worked tirelessly as a itinerant vegetable trader, hawking fresh produce on foot across local villages and markets.
The horrific incident came to light on Sunday morning when local agricultural labourers working in nearby fields noticed a foul stench emanating from a thicket alongside the Shantinagar-Golla road. Investigating the source of the odour, they stumbled upon the bloodied corpse of a woman concealed within the undergrowth. As news spread rapidly across neighboring villages, crowds gathered at the scene, and family members called to the site confirmed the identity of the slain vendor.
According to family members and local traders, Padma Rani left her home at around 8:30 am on Saturday morning carrying vegetables to sell. Traders at Golla Boubazar recalled seeing her earlier that morning as she conducted her regular sales. Before embarking on her journey back home at approximately 11:15 am, she purchased flatbread for her son’s breakfast. It was the last time anyone saw her alive. When she failed to return by evening, anxious relatives searched frantically across the area, but their efforts yielded no trace until Sunday morning.
The tragedy leaves behind a grief-stricken household, including her husband, a son, and a daughter. Her weeping daughter, Iti Majhi, expressed sheer disbelief at the brutal killing, emphasizing that her mother was an innocent woman with no known enemies. She noted that after a full day of sales, her mother could not have had more than 700 to 800 taka in cash on her person, making the savagery of the attack deeply perplexing.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Nawabganj Police Station, Md Abu Hanif, confirmed that the body bore deep wounds inflicted by a sharp weapon on the right side of the neck. Furthermore, scavengers had damaged parts of the body overnight while it lay hidden in the deserted bushes. Investigators suspect assailants murdered her on her way home and dumped her corpse in the thicket to conceal the crime.
Police completed the preliminary inquest at the scene before dispatching the corpse to Sir Salimullah Medical College (Mitford) Hospital morgue in Dhaka for an official post-mortem examination. Law enforcement authorities have launched a formal investigation to determine the exact motive and apprehend those responsible for the crime.
