Maldivian Student: CID to exhume body Monday

The Criminal Investigation Department in Rajshahi is scheduled to exhume the body of Maldivian medical student Raudha Athif on Monday for a second autopsy when all her mother wants is she stays “in peace with God”.

Raudha's mother Aminath Muharrimath called CID Inspector Asmaul Haque, who is investigating the murder case filed by her father, from Maldives yesterday morning.

She told him that she didn't want continuation of the investigation into the murder case and exhumation of the body.

Asmaul quoted Aminath as saying that she was her sole legal guardian and financial guarantor for the last five years since separation from her father.

“I explained to her that the state becomes guardian of her body after her burial in Rajshahi and its [second] autopsy is necessary for investigation,” he said.

According to the first autopsy report, she committed suicide by hanging herself on March 29, which was rejected by both her mother and father.

When The Daily Star contacted Aminath, she said she was sick and could not talk.

This correspondent, however, got a press statement issued from Maldives by her side, in which she said, “I want her to be with God in her grave. I do not want anyone to disturb her further.”

She would wait until the judgement day for justice, Aminath said in the statement.

However, CID police fixed the date for exhuming the body after the formation of a medical board, Asmaul said.

CID police also seized the hard disk of a Close Circuit Television camera and the ceiling fan from Raudha's room in the women's dormitory of Islami Bank Medical College in Rajshahi where the 21-year old had been studying in the second year of MBBS.

CID Special Superintendent Nazmul Karim Khan said the hard disk would be sent to IT forensic laboratory for finding out why the camera was out of order on the day of Raudha's death and if it contained any evidence substantiating the claim of murder.

The ceiling fan, from which the college authorities claimed to have seen Raudha hanging, will be examined to check whether there was any impact on it from bearing 55kg weight of Raudha, he added.

Meanwhile, Associate Prof Amirul Chowdhury of the forensic department of Shaheed M Monsur Ali Medical College in Sirajganj is heading the three-member medical board. Other members are Associate Prof Mahbub Hafiz, of the forensic department of North Bengal Medical College in Sirajganj, and Hafizur Rahman, of radiology and imaging department of Rajshahi Medical College.

On Tuesday, a Rajshahi court granted CID permission to exhume the body in presence of an executive magistrate.

Ruadha's father Mohamed Athif along with a CID team visited the medical college and her dormitory room yesterday.

He said Raudha had threat to her life since one of her friends had mixed sedatives with her juice once.

While visiting the crime scene, Mohamed Athif and police saw remnants of the dinner Raudha cooked and tea prepared before her death.

“Why would a person who prepared her dinner commit suicide?” he asked.