It was late in the afternoon of April 26 in 2021, just after 3pm, that Gulshan Thana police were called to a posh apartment block on a side street off Gulshan South Avenue, on Road 120. When they got there, they found Nusrat Jahan Tania, a resident of Cumilla, who was there to pick up her sister, Mosharrat Jahan Munia, 21, but was failing to get into her flat. Despite knowing her sister was coming to pick her up, Munia was not answering the door.

Tania had asked the flat's owner, who lived in the same building, for a spare key, but strangely, they failed to provide it. It was then that the decision was made to call in the police, in order to break down the door to Munia's flat and get in.

Tania already had a sinking feeling about the whole situation. It wasn't as if she was there to pick up her sister on a whim. Munia had been calling her since 9am that morning, sounding distressed and asking her elder sister, the only guardian she had left in the world, to come and take her back to Cumilla as she was in great danger after being 'betrayed' by her lover.

That lover happened to be Sayem Sobhan Anvir, managing director of the Bashundhara Group, one of the country's largest business houses. Although otherwise married with children, Anvir had been carrying on an extramarital affair with Munia, almost 20 years his junior, on and off for around two years at that point. He had put her up in the flat on Road 120, which was owned by his friend, two months earlier. Prior to that, he had rented out a flat in Banani, where Munia had stayed for almost a year.

In between, she had been forced to return to Cumilla after Anvir's family found out about the affair. Munia was picked up and threatened with dire consequences unless she ended the affair and went back to Cumilla. That was when she was forced to vacate the Banani flat and go back to Cumilla, around the middle of 2020.

But somewhere around February 2021 he had turned up at their home in Cumilla and taken Munia back to Dhaka, commencing her stay in Gulshan. As the door to this flat was broken down in police presence that day, Tania's worst fears came true.

Munia's body was found 'hanging' from the ceiling fan in her room, with a dupatta tied around her neck. Tania immediately noticed that to say she was 'hanging' was a stretch, since not just her feet, but even her knees were almost touching the bed on which this apparent scene of a suicide had been staged. UNB has viewed crime scene photos that confirm this, but they are too graphic to publish.

Based on what she saw in Munia's flat and her prior knowledge, Tania wanted to file a murder case against Anvir under Section 302 of the Penal Code that night at Gulshan Thana. But the Gulshan police flat-out refused to record such a case against Anvir. It was the first of a series of missteps by the police, that would become a hallmark of the case. Eventually, well past midnight, they would relent on recording a case under Section 306 - the much lesser crime of abetting or instigating suicide.

Later that year, in August, the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury relieved Anvir of the charge under Section 306, after the investigating officer of the case, Gulshan Thana OC Abul Hasan, submitted a final report to the court giving a clean chit to Anvir.

But this was only the beginning.

At the Women and Children's Tribunal

Munia's sister, Nusrat Jahan, said, "Since I started seeking justice, I have been receiving threats over the phone. Even now, they are telling us not to speak about this anymore. I was never afraid for my life back then, and I'm not afraid now. Just last week, I received another threat call. We have filed a general diary (GD) three times regarding this. My husband and I have been threatened with death. I have stopped receiving calls from unknown numbers. Munia was not just my sister; she was like my child."

Nusrat's husband, Mizanur Rahman, said, "I receive calls from various numbers asking me and my wife to withdraw the case. We live in constant fear. My wife is scared, so I have forbidden her from answering any unknown numbers."

Advocate Sarwar Hossain, who filed the petition in the case, provided details of Munia's relationship with the prime accused, Sayem Sobhan Anvir.

Hossain said, "Anvir took an interest in Munia and promised to marry her. From June 2019 to April 2020, they lived together as a couple in a residence in Banani. Munia then went to Comilla but was brought back to Dhaka by Anvir. From March 1 until her death on April 26, 2021, she was kept in a flat in Gulshan. Munia stayed in the Banani house for 9 months and in the Gulshan flat for 6 months. Evidence suggests that only Anvir could enter the Gulshan apartment during that time."

Hossain added that when Munia was found dead, her feet were reportedly touching the floor, suggesting she had been hung in a forced position. The initial case was filed under Section 306 of the Penal Code, charging provocation to suicide, but Hossain argued it should have been a case of murder under Section 302.

The case was later reviewed and refiled under the Women and Children Repression Act and Section 302 following a fresh petition. The investigation was handed over to the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI). However, the initial final report, filed under Section 306, was challenged, and an appeal was made on May 8, 2024. The appeal was accepted, and the case will now be heard in the High Court to determine whether the petition for a fresh investigation will be granted.

Forensic findings played a crucial role in the investigation. The autopsy report revealed that sperm from a male was found on Munia's body, suggesting that she was raped before her death. The investigation also revealed that Munia had been three weeks pregnant at the time of her death, further complicating the case by suggesting a double homicide if the fetus was also considered a victim. CCTV footage and testimony from the housemaid confirmed that only Anvir could have been present in the apartment during the time leading up to the murder.

Sarwar Hossain argued that these findings, including evidence of sexual assault and pregnancy, confirmed that Munia was murdered, and the manner in which she was found hanging suggests a staged scene.

Lawyer Masud Salauddin has been representing Munia's family in the case from the very beginning. He said, "In the one and a half years since the case started, there have been about 10-12 hearings, but nothing has progressed in the case. After the submission of the final report, the accused were acquitted. We filed a petition against that, and we are now waiting for the hearing on that petition."

Meanwhile, sources confirmed that several police officers who had previously worked on the case are no longer in their positions. Attempts to contact them for further comment were unsuccessful. PBI Additional SP Tanzina Akhter was contacted, but after initially agreeing to provide information, she later declined to comment, stating that former officers handling the case were unwilling to speak on the matter.