Preeti Urang's death: The Daily Star executive editor, wife sent to jail after remand

A Dhaka court has sent Executive Editor of The Daily Star Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tania Khondoker to jail after a four-day remand in a case filed over the death of a teenage maid at their home in the capital's Mohammadpur area.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury passed the order when the investigation officer of the case produced them before the court on completion of their remand today (18 February), Helal Uddin, sub-inspector of general registration branch of Mohammadpur Police Station, told reporters this afternoon.

According to court sources, the police, in their petition, stated that additional time is required to thoroughly verify the information provided by Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tania Khondoker during the remand interrogation. 

To facilitate this process, police mentioned that the accused should be kept in jail. 

On 13 February, Syed Ashfaqul Haque and his wife Tania Khondoker were granted a four-day remand in the case. Earlier on 7 February, the couple were sent to jail after a court denied them bail in the case. 

Preeti Urang, daughter of a tea worker in Moulvibazar, fell to her death from the eighth-floor apartment of Syed Ashfaqul Haque in Dhaka's Mohammadpur on 6 February.

The next day, her father, Lukesh Urang, filed a case with Mohammadpur police station, against journalist Ashfaqul Haque and his wife, Tania Khondoker. Following the filing of the case, both accused were promptly arrested.

Lukesh, in the case, said that Preeti fell from the apartment due to the absence of safety bars on the window of the flat's drawing space. He highlighted that a similar incident occurred last year on 4 August, where another housekeeper sustained severe injuries from falling out of the same window.

Lukesh attributed these repeated accidents to the negligence and carelessness of the house owner and occupants, emphasising the lack of protective barriers on the windows as the root cause.

Rights organisations have been protesting Preeti's death in recent days demanding a fair investigation into the incident and justice for the deceased.