Samima Khatoon Telegraph picture

Samima Khatoon’s pride of getting her sons educated at the prestigious Jamia Milia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University came in the way of accepting daughter Nazreen’s decision to marry Mohammed Mahfooz alias Raja, whose mother works as a domestic help.

So enraged was Samima with Nazreen’s persistence to marry Raja that she allegedly killed her in cold blood, police said in Patna on Sunday. The police added that the accused also confessed that she had taken the help of an eight-year-old boy to kill her daughter.

Nazreen, a biotechnology student, was murdered at her house in the Badi Khagaul area under Khagaul police station in the small hours on April 18. The police found the body on the night of April 19. “Samima is a graduate and gives tuitions to girls till Class XII. Her three sons study in universities considered among the best in the country. Her husband, Abdul Hakim, is a cabin man with the railways. She was against Nazreen’s affair with Raja,” an officer at the Khagaul police station told The Telegraph.

On April 14, Nazreen’s father had seen her with Raja to Danapur railway station. “He suffered a heart attack and is admitted to the Danapur railway hospital. On April 16, Nazreen and Raja got married secretly. It was then that Samima decided to kill her daughter. We have a witness — an eight-year-old cousin of Nazreen — who saw the murder. The day after the murder, he was sent to Gaya. The police are bringing him to Patna and will record his statement,” the officer added.

On April 17, Nazreen returned home after her mother pledged to accept the marriage. “The next day, Nazreen and Samima had a tiff over Raja. When everybody was asleep on April 18, Samima hit her on the head with a heavy object. When Nazreen resisted, Samima called the boy, who helped her hold the victim. She then strangled Nazreen,” the officer said.

Samima has been sent to jail and police said her sons and husband had no clue about her involvement in the incident.