Domestic worker used fake names, drugged victims in serial thefts

Domestic worker Bilkis Begum carried out a series of thefts by mixing sleeping pills with food and rendering household members unconscious. She also committed murder while carrying out thefts. She has finally been arrested by the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI).

According to PBI, she would assume fake identities to get jobs as a domestic worker before committing the crimes.

PIB Additional Deputy Inspector General Enayet Hossain Mannan revealed these details at a press conference titled “Uncovering a series of thefts using sedatives” at the PBI Dhaka Metro-North office in West Agargaon in Dhaka today, Monday.

Describing the incident, Enayet Hossain Mannan said that on 13 August last year, a woman identifying herself as Anjuman went to the house of Ibnul Alam Palash in Uttara Sector 4 in search of a job as a domestic worker. Initially, she approached the building caretaker Zakir Hossain for work, who later introduced her to Ibnul. After some discussion, Ibnul asked her to join work from the next day and to bring a photocopy of her National Identity Card (NID). However, when she came the next day, she said she had forgotten to bring it and would provide it later.

He further said that both Ibnul Alam and his wife are service holder and had gone to their offices that morning, while Ibnul’s 66-year-old mother, Rowshanara Begum, was at home. The domestic worker prepared breakfast—flatbread and fried potatoes—for her.

However, she secretly mixed sleeping pills with the food, rendering Rowshanara unconscious, and fled with her gold bangles, earrings, and 3,000 taka in cash. When Ibnul returned home in the afternoon and found his mother unconscious, he rushed her to the hospital. After nine days of treatment, she recovered. Ibnul later filed a case with Uttara East Police Station. Although police investigated the case for several months, they failed to identify the accused and submitted a final report to the court. The court, on its own initiative, ordered PBI to conduct further investigation.

Enayet Hossain Mannan said that after receiving the court order, PBI resumed the investigation. Even after reviewing CCTV footage and speaking with local residents, they were unable to identify the suspect.

Meanwhile, on 17 February this year, another incident occurred in Uttara where a murder took place during a similar theft involving drugging the victim. PBI arrested a domestic worker named Bilkis Begum, 40, in connection with that case. Due to similarities between the two incidents, PBI showed her photograph to Ibnul and his family, who immediately identified her. It was then that investigators realised the same person had used different names in the two cases.

The PBI official said Bilkis Begum has confessed to her crimes. After being initially identified, she was taken into police custody for questioning, during which she admitted her involvement in the theft at Ibnul Alam’s house. Not only these two incidents, she also confessed to seven similar thefts over the past five to six years in areas including Uttara and Hatirjheel in Dhaka. In one incident in Uttara, the victim died due to an excessive dose of sleeping pills.

Enayet Hossain Mannan added that Bilkis Begum used different names in each case—sometimes Marufa, sometimes Anjuman, and sometimes Bilkis Begum—to secure employment. She has no National Identity Card, and even her fingerprints have not been found. Authorities are also investigating whether she is part of an organised gang.

The investigating officer of the case, Sub-Inspector (SI) Firoz Ahmed Munshi, said that she would take jobs in different households under different names, with the sole intention of committing theft. For this reason, she would not provide any photographs, NID, or mobile phone number. She had been arrested before as well, but after being released on bail, she resumed the same activities.