A five-month pregnant woman has been hammered to death allegedly by her husband in Kalia upazila of Narail district.
Deceased Dipali Begum was the wife of Rakibul Gazi, a resident of Urshi village of Baroipara area in the upazila.
Locals said Purulia UP chairman Amirul Moni fined carpenter Rakibul Tk 6 lakh in an arbitration meeting for allegedly stealing at two shops at Baroipara intersection.
To pay the fine, Rakibul asked her wife Dipali to bring money from her father's home but she refused.
The refusal angered him and he hit her head with a hammer on Thursday night, leaving her critically injured.
Later, she died on the way to the hospital.
UP chairman Moni said, "An arbitration meeting was held at my office on an allegation of theft at two shops against Rakibul where he was fined Tk 6 lakh with present everyone's consent."
But he did not comply with the arbitration, Moni said, adding that the murder might have happened over family conflict.
Kalia Police Station officer in-charge Sheikh Koni Mia said they primarily assume that the housewife died after being hammered by her husband.
However, the body was sent to Narail Sadar Hospital morgue.
Hafizul Nilu/SU