Vogue model Raudha murder case to be re-investigated

A Rajshai court has ordered a re-investigation of the murder case of Maldivian national and Vogue magazine model Raudha Athif who was found dead in her hostel room at Islami Bank Medical College in 2017.

Rajshahi Metropolitan Magistrate Court-3 Judge Mahidur Rahman gave the order after the hearing of a revision appeal on Tuesday (19 July). 

The court also asked for investigation the case by Additional Superintendent of Police, Aslam Sarkar, the lawyer of the plaintiff in the Raudha murder case confirmed the matter to The Business Standard.

Raudha Athif was a second year MBBS student at Islami Bank Medical College in Rajshahi. On 29 March 2017, Raudha's body was recovered from the foreign students' hostel room of the college. Police found her body lying on a bed.

College authorities claimed that Raudha committed suicide by hanging herself on a ceiling fan. They also claimed they had to break down the door to enter her room and bring her body down before the police arrived to the scene.

Roudha's father, however, Mohammad Atif rejected the suicide claim and filed a murder case against her classmate Sirat Parveen.

Following the case, the body was exhumed from the grave and a second autopsy was conducted. But the second post-mortem report followed the first one stating that the death was caused by suicide.

Later, on 15 October 2017, the then police inspector of Shahmakhdum police station Anwar Ali Tuhin and the inspector of criminal investigation department of police Asmaul Haque submitted the final report of the case to the court.

Raudha's father disagreed with the report. Taking his non-agreement into cognizance, the court assigned the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to investigate the case.

PBI investigation officer Sub-Inspector (SI) Saidur Rahman submitted the investigation report to the court on 18 May 2019. 

He mentioned in the report that the autopsy report claimed the deceased committed suicide and that no evidence was found regarding the involvement of the accused Sirat Parveen in Raudha's death. 

After receiving the report, the court registered the case.

Raudha's father expressed dissatisfaction with this yet again. He sought a reinvestigation of the case through due process and the court gave the order accordingly on Tuesday.

Aslam Sarkar, the lawyer of the plaintiff in the Raudha murder case, said, "If the body was brought down by breaking down the door, the door would have been damaged. The shutter would be broken or bent. 

If a person weighing at least 40kg hangs from the fan, there will be a mark on the fan as well. All this could be traced in the test. None of these signs were found. So how did the girl commit suicide? These are the matters which have been explained to the court. Hence, the court ordered a reinvestigation of the case."

"A copy of the order will soon be sent from the court to the Commissioner of Police, Rajshahi Nagar," Aslam Sarkar added.