The police suspected that the female doctor, whose body was recovered at an apartment of the Aziz Super Market building at Shahbagh in the capital on Friday, had been dead for days.

Deceased Farah Ferdous, 32, hailing from Khulna, was a student of Bangladesh Medical University. She was admitted to the university after completing her MBBS degree from Sir Salimullah Medical College.

Shahbagh police station sub-inspector Md Ekramul Haque said that a preliminary police assessment suggested that she might have suffered a stroke and died days ago, although the exact cause of death would be confirmed through autopsy.

‘The door was found locked from inside. She was found sitting on a bed with her head bowed on a table. The body was in a decomposing state,’ said SI Ekramul, who went to the spot to recover the body.

Responding to a question, Ekramul said that no injury marks were found on Farah’s body.

According to the police, Farah lived alone at the apartment on the 13th floor of the building and her sister Nuzula Ferdous, also a student of BMU, lives at another apartment in same the building.

Nuzula last spoke with her sister on June 23, three days before the body was recovered.

Residents of a neighbouring apartment found a foul smell coming from Farah’s apartment and informed Nuzula of it, but they found the door locked from inside.

As none responded from inside, they informed the police.

On information, the police recovered the decomposed body after breaking the door.

The body was sent to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital mortuary for post-mortem examination and an unnatural death case was filed with the Shahbagh police station on Friday.

Ekramul said that the body was handed over to the deceased’s family members on Saturday following the autopsy.