Daily Star Executive Editor Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tania Khondoker, who are in jail in connection with the death of domestic worker Preeti Urang, 15, after she fell from the 8th floor of the building where the couple resides, have been interrogated by the police at the jail gate.
During the interrogation, the police sought to know the reason for repeatedly torturing the maids.
Six months before the death of Urang, another domestic worker named Ferdausi, who was seven years old, fell from the apartment in the same way. The police wanted to unravel the mystery.
Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tania Khondoker were     

arrested last Tuesday. The judge ordered them to be sent to jail when they were handed over to the court the next day.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Tejgaon Division Deputy Commissioner HM Azimul Haque said the court allowed Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tania Khondoker to be interrogated at the jail gate in connection with the death of the domestic worker.
According to investigation sources, Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tania Khondoker were interrogated in Dhaka Central Prison Keraniganj on 8 and 9 February.
An explanation has also been sought from the couple as to why the dead teenage maid was kept with her hands tied in the house. A provision for causing death by negligence is attached for the repetition of the same incident.

If the investigation finds direct evidence of murder or anything else, then legal action will be taken accordingly because similar incidents are not supposed to happen again and again. It is being investigated whether someone pushed the housemaid or not.
Domestic worker Preeti Urang died after falling from the ninth floor of the building adjacent to Geneva Camp on Shahjahan Road in Mohammadpur at 8am on 6 February.
Eyewitnesses said that Preeti was hanging on the window grill for some time before falling. Then she fell from that building. Then many people gathered there. They said the security guards of the building were quickly informed about the matter but they did not want to open the door at first.

After the girl fell from the top, Anas, a security guard from the neighbouring building, and some others rescued her and took her to the hospital.
On receiving the information, the Mohammadpur police station sent the girl’s body to Suhrawardy Medical College Mortuary for post-mortem. At that time, the locals gathered at the gate of the house and started protesting alleging that the girl was killed. Later, the police took Ashfaq, Tania and six members of their family to the police station. After interrogation, Ashfaq and Tania were kept in jail and the rest were released.

Preeti’s father Lokesh Urang filed a case with Mohammadpur police station the next day.
Sub Inspector Sadia of Mohammadpur police station has prepared the report of the deceased Preeti in the discussed incident. The postmortem report mentions some new and old scars on the body of the deceased Preeti.
Sadia said the condition of the body after falling is such that it is difficult to distinguish these marks. The matter will be clear in the autopsy.
Preeti’s village home is in Mittinga of Kamalganj upazila of Moulvibazar.
An officer related to the investigation asked what happened in the house of Ashfaqul Haque, the executive editor of the English Daily Star that child domestic workers fell from the eighth and ninth floor. Are they physically, mentally or sexually abused at home? Or are children being thrown away?

Preeti’s father complained that two years ago, due to scarcity, he sent his younger daughter to work as a domestic worker at journalist Ashfaqul Haque’s residence through a local man named Mintu.
But Ashfaqul Haque’s family did not allow her daughter to meet them even after two years. They used to talk to the householder’s mobile once or twice a month.
Earlier, Ferdausi’s mother Jochna Begum filed a case with Mohammadpur police station six months ago accusing Syed Ashfaqul Haque, his wife Tania Khondoker and a woman named Asma Akhter Shilpi.
Later, the defendants in the case settled with the plaintiff in court. The investigating officer submitted the final report to the court based on the complaint.