Police recovered the hanging body of a 26-year-old Pakistani national from a flat in South Banasree in Dhaka on Tuesday morning.

The deceased was identified as Mohammad Shahbaz, who had been living in Bangladesh for about a year, said Saiful Islam, officer-in-charge of Khilgaon Police Station.

Police initially suspected that he might have died by suicide over debt-related stress and marital discord.

Mohsin Al Murad, additional deputy commissioner of the Khilgaon Zone under the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Motijheel Division, said Shahbaz was in debt and had disagreements with his wife over the matter.

According to police, a security guard found Shahbaz hanging inside a flat at House No. 38 on Road No. 9/5 in Block F of South Banasree on Tuesday morning and informed them. Police later broke open the door and recovered the body.

Shahbaz was taken to the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead at 10:50am. His body was kept at the hospital morgue for an autopsy.

Saiful told UNB that police recovered Shahbaz’s Pakistani passport, which bore a Bangladeshi visa valid until December.

A preliminary investigation found that Shahbaz was involved in sending people abroad for employment. Police also recovered a note containing two phone numbers from the flat. One belonged to his brother in Pakistan, while the other was identified as his wife’s number. The woman is from Patuakhali.

Contacting her, police learned that she had married Shahbaz about a month ago, the OC said.

Police also learned that Shahbaz had previously married a woman from the Marma community, who later divorced him and left.

Police have sent a copy of his passport to the relevant department of the Special Branch for further verification of his identity and background. The Pakistani High Commission in Dhaka has also been informed, Saiful added.