Tahirpur (Sunamganj) Correspondent

Just three months after her marriage, an 18-year-old fatherless newlywed bride named Rikta Moni has tragically committed suicide by consuming poison in Tahirpur Upazila of Sunamganj district. In connection with the incident, police detained the deceased housewife's father-in-law on Friday.

Earlier on Thursday evening, law enforcement officials recovered the body of the newlywed from the Tahirpur Upazila Health Complex and dispatched it to the Sunamganj District Sadar Hospital morgue for a post-mortem examination.

The deceased, Rikta Moni, was the wife of Sohag Miah—son of Abdul Mannaf from the Kalagaon border village in Tahirpur—and the daughter of the late Putul Miah from South Para village in the neighboring Midhnagar Upazila.

Speaking on Friday afternoon, the grieving mother of the deceased, Hasna Begum, a widow from Midhnagar's South Para, stated that Rikta Moni consumed poison at around 2:00 PM on Thursday at her husband's residence in Kalagaon village, during the absence of her husband Sohag. Rikta's in-laws informed her of the situation while they were transporting the unconscious girl to the Tahirpur hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The mother alleged that although Sohag’s family had reluctantly accepted the relationship since it was a marriage born out of love, they began subjecting Rikta to relentless physical and mental abuse for furniture and dowry money shortly after the wedding. "Two days after severely assaulting my daughter, Sohag tactfully left the house. Her husband and in-laws deliberately tortured my daughter and forced her to take her own life," Hasna Begum stated, demanding exemplary justice.

Following accusations of provoking the newlywed to commit suicide, the victim's father-in-law, Abdul Mannaf, was apprehended from Sunamganj district town on Friday afternoon during a drive led by Sunamganj Sadar Model Police Station OC Ratan Shekh.

Tahirpuri Police Station OC Aminul Islam confirmed the detention, stating that the captured suspect, Abdul Mannaf, is being escorted back to the Tahirpur Police Station.