Police recovered the half burnt body of a woman from an abandoned house belonging to a Jubo League (JL) in Akhaura upazila of Brahmanbaria on Tuesday.

Police, however, arrested a youth named Farhan Rony, son of Dakshin union unit of JL General Secretary Shahnewaz Bhuiyan, in this connection.

The deceased was identified as Harluza Begum, 50, wife of one Nurul Islam of Hirapur area under the upazila.

Locals and witnesses said some ducks were stolen from a house in Gazir Bazar on Monday night.   

Ducks’ owners Enamul and Roman (brothers) and their paternal cousin Obaidul were searching for the ducks in the house and noticed smoke with odour coming from the abandoned house around 7am.

Suspecting something wrong, they tried to enter the house while Rony, known as a drug addict in the area, barred them, they said. Rony was inside the house then.

At one stage of argument, the trio forcibly entered the house and found the half burnt beheaded body of the woman in a hole, according to them.

Later, they informed police of the matter. Locals said Rony called in the woman from her house in the early morning.  

Akhaura police station’s Inspector (inspector) Shahinur Islam said they recovered the body whose most parts were burnt.

Upon information gleaned from the arrestee, the head of the victim was recovered from another spot, he said, adding that they were trying to know why such brutality occurred.