In the statement given under Section 164, Zahid, 35, of Khilgaon, Dhaka said that he planned to murder Tahmina Sharmin Tania, 28, as he was having an illicit affair with his cousin and wanted to get rid of his wife. He hired three professional killers in Dhaka to do the job during their trip to Kuakata.

According to the plan, one of the hired killers Abul Hossain accompanied the couple and their 10-month-son Zayman to Kuakata as their driver. The two other killers came separately and joined the couple when they started for Dhaka at around 7:00pm on January 27 by their private car after a two-day stay there.

When they reached Rajopara on Kuakata-Dhaka road under Kalapara upazila, Abul attacked Tania with sharp knives and the other two killers helped him to murder her, Zahid told the magistrate.

According to the plan, the killers then dumped the body into a roadside ditch and set out for Dhaka with the car, while Zahid went to a nearby house and called locals saying that some smugglers had attacked them and killed his wife.

Later on, Kalapara police arrested him from the spot suspecting his involvement with the incident. Patuakhali Sadar police seized the car abandoned at Kaliakapur on Patuakhali-Dhaka road the next day and recovered two bloodstained knives from the car.

Tania of Taltala in Dhaka was an assistant teacher of Shaheed Babul Academy of the capital.