Police arrest husband of woman found hanged

The husband of a 42-year-old woman who was found hanged at her home has been arrested, local media reported.

Initially reported as a suicide on March 5, the death was investigated after family members raised questions.

A police spokesman told reporters that a 61-year-old man had been arrested in relation to the death on the island of Nolhivaram, in Haa Dhaalu atoll. The man was arrested from the same island.

Newspaper Mihaaru reported he was married to the deceased woman and that he was the first person to find the the body.

A family member told Mihaaru last month that Shahida Ali was suffering from mental health problems, but raised suspicions about her death.

The family doubted she could have tied a rope to eaves 12-feet high, remarking on the absence of a chair or ladder in the open-air toilet where she was found.

Shahida was asleep when her husband went to the mosque next door for the dawn prayer.

He heard her cries from the mosque and came back to find her dead, the family member said, adding that island police took down the body and investigators later arrived from Kulhudhuffushi and Malé.