A woman and her housemaid were found murdered in a flat in the city’s Mirpur area yesterday afternoon.

The deceased were identified as Rahima, alias Shahida Begum, 65, and Sumi, 18. Rahima was a tenant of the flat and Sumi had just been hired as her maid on Monday.   

Police detained Rahima’s adopted son, Sohel, a pick-up van driver, for questioning. 

The incident comes a month after a woman and her house help were murdered in their Dhanmondi residence in the capital.

Kamal Hossain, additional deputy commissioner of Mirpur Division Police, said Rahima had been living in a two-bedroom flat of the four-storey building in Mirpur-2, along with Sohel, for the last six months.

Rahima’s husband Quddus Mia lives in Jashore.

The murder came to light when Sumi’s aunt, Tahmina, came to the flat to visit her niece yesterday afternoon and found the door to their apartment unlocked.

Entering the flat, she found the bodies of Rahima and Sumi lying on the floor. Hearing her screams, neighbours came to the spot and then informed police of the matter, law enforcers said.     

Additional Commissioner (crime) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Krishna Pada Roy said, “We suspect the women were strangled to death. We are investigating the matter.”

Quoting locals, the official said there had always been many frequent visitors to the flat and that police were looking into whether any of them was involved.

Mirpur police said the place looked like it had been ransacked. 

Rahima’s daughter Rashida, who lives in Narayanganj with her husband, said, she could not say what items were missing. She also could not say how much money her mother had. 

“Sohel informed me of the deaths. My mother had been ill for the past few days and received treatment recently,” she said. 

A crime scene management unit of the Criminal Investigation Department arrived around 9:00pm last night and collected evidence.