Retired schoolteacher Abdur Rashid had spent his life raising his two daughters and helping them become doctors. In old age, he had hoped to look back on their success with pride and relief.
That hope has now been shattered by the unexplained death of his elder daughter, 32-year-old Farah Ferdouse.
Dr Farah’s decomposed body was recovered from a flat in the residential block of Aziz Super Market in Dhaka’s Shahbagh on Friday.
A doctor who entered government service through the 39th BCS, Farah was undergoing higher training in cardiovascular medicine at Bangladesh Medical University, or BMU. Her ancestral home is in Fultola Upazila of Khulna.
Her parents have been left devastated by the death. Her younger sister, Nujhula Ferdouse, is now trying to manage the family’s responsibilities alone.
Nujhula, also an MBBS graduate from Dhaka Medical College, is working at BMU while pursuing higher studies there.
Still traumatised, she told bdnews24.com after repeated calls on Sunday and Monday that neither she nor her father was in a position to speak.
Farah’s death has prompted speculation on social media, but police say they have so far found no initial evidence to suggest murder.
They are waiting for the post-mortem report to determine the cause of death.
According to the family, Dr Farah had been living alone in the flat for a long time. She had been unreachable for several days before her body was found, and had not responded to calls or messages.
Worried, Nujhula went to the flat on Friday and found the door locked from inside. A foul smell was coming from the flat, prompting her to call police.
Police later broke open the door and recovered the body.
Shahbagh Police Sub-Inspector Ekramul Haque, who was at the scene, said Farah was found sitting on the bed, wearing a maxi dress, with a towel wrapped around her head. Her head was resting on a table.
“The body had already partly decomposed as it had been lying there for a long time,” he said.
Police said no external injury marks could be identified because of the condition of the body.
Investigators found a wallet and a box of chips on the bed, and a lighter and cigarettes on the table. A broken injection vial was also recovered, which police said appeared to be for a painkiller.
“Initially, the possibility of a stroke or some other natural physical complication cannot be ruled out,” SI Ekramul said. “But the autopsy report is needed to know the actual cause of death.”
Nujhula’s colleague Fakhar Uddin, who has been trying to comfort the family, said Farah’s parents had been in deep shock since the death.
“They are not in a position to speak. Nujhula is now handling all the family responsibilities,” he said.
“There were only the parents and two sisters in the family. A death like this has broken them completely.”
Referring to Nujhula, Fakhar said Farah had a good relationship with her family and they had not noticed any personal disappointment or unusual behaviour.
SI Ekramul, however, said police had asked the family whether Farah had been under any mental stress, depression or other difficulty.
“They did not want to give any details about this,” he said.
An unnatural death case has been filed at Shahbagh Police Station over the recovery of Farah’s body.
Investigating officer SI Marufa Akhter said police had not found anything suspicious at the preliminary stage.