Police have taken Satkhira-4 MP Gazi Nazrul Islam and his first wife, Maksuda, to a police station for questioning after his 19-year-old second wife, Mariam Khatun, was found dead at the NAM Bhaban complex in Dhaka on Sunday.

Investigators are examining whether Mariam was killed or died by suicide and, in the latter case, whether anyone instigated her death, according to a police source.

Mohammad Ibne Mizan, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Tejgaon Division, confirmed at around 10 pm that the lawmaker and his first wife had been taken in for questioning.

Police were alerted at around 7 pm after Mariam was found hanging inside Flat 203 of Building No. 5 at the MPs’ residential complex in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.

Teams from Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station, the Criminal Investigation Department, Police Bureau of Investigation and Detective Branch went to the scene.

CID personnel processed the crime scene, while police conducted an inquest. Mariam’s body was later sent to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital for an autopsy.

Police have not determined the cause or circumstances of her death. Contemporary reports also identified Mariam as 19 and said she was found hanging inside the lawmaker’s NAM Bhaban flat. 

Gazi Nazrul was at the flat when police recovered the body, according to police quoted by Ittefaq. 

Nazrul was elected from Satkhira-4 on a Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami ticket in the February parliamentary election.

He became embroiled in controversy in July after footage showing him in a private setting with a young woman circulated on social media. Nazrul identified the woman as Mariam and said they had married on June 17. 

Jamaat expelled Nazrul on July 22 after an internal investigation, saying allegations of “moral misconduct” had been established. The party also said it would notify the Election Commission of its decision. 

Mariam’s death remains under investigation, with police yet to announce any finding of criminal responsibility.