Face not clear in footage, no other clue either, murder mystery solved analysing gait

Investigators were initially almost in the dark after a housewife was killed by administering sedatives and gold ornaments and cash were looted in Uttara in Dhaka. The domestic worker’s name and identity were fake, there was no mobile phone number, and the house’s CCTV camera was also broken.

In the footage obtained from a neighbouring house’s CCTV camera, the face was not clear either. Finally, the distinctive walking style captured in that footage became the clue. Following that clue, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) identified and arrested the killer.

Sub-Inspector Rabiul Islam of PBI (Dhaka city north) played an important role in solving the case. He told Prothom Alo, “There was no way to identify her face from the CCTV footage. But the walking style seemed familiar to me. Three years ago, I arrested a woman in a theft case. I found a match between her walking style and the woman in this footage. Then I confirmed it by matching old records and photos stored on Google Drive.”

On 17 February, domestic worker ‘Marufa’ was accused of looting after feeding sedatives to housewife Ayesha Akter, 62, and her husband Anwar Hossain, 68, at a house in Uttara Sector-7 in Dhaka. Housewife Ayesha Akter died due to excessive sedatives, and Anwar Hossain was admitted to a private hospital.

Later it was learned that the domestic worker’s name was not Marufa but Bilkis Begum. She had joined work two days before the incident under a false name. She is actually a thief. She takes jobs pretending to be a domestic worker in different houses in Dhaka and surrounding areas.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, she feeds sedatives to household members, makes them unconscious, and loots valuables. PBI arrested her from Gazipur on 21 February. She also gave a confessional statement in court on Monday.

PBI officials said Bilkis Begum is 43 years old. She takes jobs in different houses under false names with an intention to steal. Her method is to cleverly feed sedatives to household members, loot valuables, and escape smoothly. She had been committing thefts in Dhaka and nearby areas with the same method for about a decade.

Even after committing thefts for a long time, she was caught less often because she did not give her real identity when taking jobs. She did not even provide photos, NID, or mobile number. So it became difficult to identify her.

Information of at least five cases against Bilkis Begum in different police stations in Dhaka has been found under various names. In September 2023, PBI arrested her in a theft case of Hatirjheel police station in Dhaka. She was in jail for one and a half months in that case. After coming out of jail, she again started stealing with the same method. This time, one person died from the sedative she administered.

Additional Deputy Inspector General (Additional DIG) of PBI Dhaka city-north Enayet Hossain Mannan told Prothom Alo that Bilkis Begum cleverly hides her identity when taking jobs. She does not give any information that could identify her. She works using different names. Then she feeds sedatives to the household members, loots valuables, and runs away.

In September 2022, Bilkis Begum took a domestic job at a house in Moghbazar under the name ‘Nurjahan’. After three days, she fed sedatives to the housewife and fled with Tk 450,000 and one and a half bhori of gold ornaments. Although CCTV footage from nearby cameras was collected, she could not be identified then.

A case was filed at Hatirjheel police station. After four months of investigation, police failed to identify her and submitted a final report to the court. After the complainant’s objection, PBI was tasked to reinvestigate in incident. SI Rabiul Islam was assigned as the investigating officer.

Rabiul Islam said that even then it was not possible to identify Bilkis from CCTV footage. Later he took another approach. He searched different police stations to find whether there were cases of looting after sedative use. He found information on at least five such incidents. In some cases the accused’s name was ‘Kana’, in others ‘Marufa’ or ‘Nurjahan’. After reviewing documents and checking courts, he found a woman named ‘Bilkis’ had appeared in a similar case.

After that he began collecting information about Bilkis and technical analysis. Eventually he confirmed that the domestic worker using the name ‘Nurjahan’ was actually Bilkis Begum. Later in September 2023 she was arrested from Old Dhaka and charges were filed against her in that case.

On 14 February, an unidentified woman took a job as a domestic worker at Ayesha Akter’s house in Uttara Sector-7 for a monthly salary of Tk 5,000. She told the caretaker her name was ‘Mumtaz’ and introduced herself to the family members as ‘Marufa’. She said she would provide her national ID later, but she never did.

On 18 February evening, family members returned home and found Ayesha Akter and her husband Anwar Hossain unconscious. They were taken to a local hospital, where physicians declared Ayesha Akter dead. Anwar Hossain remained under treatment.

After the housewife’s death, as part of routine procedure, a PBI team visited the scene. CCTV footage from a neighbouring house was collected. It showed the domestic worker entering the house around 8:56 am and leaving around 2:30 pm. But her face was not clear in the footage.

Seeing that footage, SI Rabiul Islam suspected the woman might be Bilkis. To confirm, he returned to his office that night and retrieved a docket of an old Hatirjheel police station case from the record room. From there he collected Bilkis Begum’s details.

Later he retrieved a photo stored on Google Drive and took it to Ayesha Akter’s house. Family members identified Bilkis from the photo. He then became sure that Bilkis Begum had administered sedatives to Ayesha Akter. After that, with technological assistance, Bilkis Begum was arrested.