Police have arrested three suspects in the case filed over a housewife's murder in the city's Sabujbagh last Saturday.

Air-conditioner repairman Bappy, 31, and his two accomplices Sumon Hossain Hridoy, 22, and Rubel, 42, were arrested from Nolchhiti of Jhalokathi district and Dhaka city.

Tania Akter, wife of Moinul Islam, was hacked to death on the evening of March 26 at her home in Begunbari under Sabujbagh Police station. She was residing in a rented flat on the first floor of a building at Begunbari Master Goli with her 3-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son. Her husband Moinul Hossain, a medical technologist, divided his time between Dhaka and Cumilla for work, and was not in town during the incident.

Briefing reporters at Paltan Police Station, Deputy Commissioner (Motijheel Division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Abdul Ahad on Tuesday evening said Tania was hacked to death as she tried to prevent the arrestees from robbing the flat, after they got in on the pretense of fixing the air conditioner.

Ahad said air-conditioner repairman Bappy, who was previously known to the family, went to the flat along with Hridoy and Rubel on March 26 afternoon to repair A/C. At one stage they opened the cupboard (almari) in the room and started shuffling through things. When Tania saw this, she tried to stop them.

At one stage, Rubel immediately grabbed Tania and Bappi pulled out a Chapati from his bag, hitting her three times on the head and back to confirm her death. At that time, when the children started crying, the detainees tied the children's faces and body parts with scotch tape. The detainees then took away the gold ornaments in the cupboard of the house, the earrings in the victim's ear, a gold chain around the neck of one of the children, money and the victim's mobile set, the DC (Motijheel division) said.

Victims' husband Moinul Islam filed a case at Sabujbagh police station. Location of AC maker Bappi was identified with the help of modern information technology.

Based on secret information, a special police team arrested Bappy from Nolchhiti of Jhalokathis district on Monday. Based on his statement, the police arrested Hridoy and Rubel from the city's Rampura in the city today (Tuesday), the DC said.

Two gold chains and a pair of earrings were recovered from their possession, he added.