Bangladesh police have arrested social media star Ashraful Hossen Alom on charges of beating up his wife for dowry.
Police officials said they detained the social media star popularly known as Hero Alom on Wednesday night.
Alom’s wife Sadia Akter Sumi received medical treatment at Bogura Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital after the alleged assault on Monday, bdnews24.com reported.
Her father Saiful Alam told the media that he rescued Sumi from Alom’s home on Tuesday night and took her to the hospital.
The 28-year old was injured in the back of her head, according to Saiful.
Alom rose to fame with amateur music videos that fired up the social media. He emerged on the political scene when he contested in the Dec 30 parliamentary polls as an independent candidate after failing to secure a ticket of HM Ershad’s Jatiya Party.
He also accused his wife and father-in-law of assaulting him and taking away Tk 500,000 from his home in a police complaint.
Bogura Sadar Police Sub-Inspector Abdur Rahim said Alom came to their station on Tuesday night and lodged a complaint that he was beaten up by Saiful, Sumi and three other people in the evening following a family dispute.
“I went to the site on Wednesday morning and learnt that Hero Alom himself also beat up his wife. She took treatment at hospital. Both sides have made complaints,” SI Rahim said.
Speaking to the media, Sumi alleged Alom stopped taking care of her and their children as he developed an affair with another woman and later married her.
Alom had earlier assaulted her when she had protested against his “second marriage”, according to Sumi.
The social media star came home to Erulia village on the outskirts of the town on Monday night after two months and spoke to a woman on mobile phone for three hours, his wife said.
As she protested, the man beat her up, Sumi said and added her father and other relatives rescued and hospitalised her.
Saiful said Alom has been torturing Sumi for a longtime.
In the police complaint, he alleged Alom also demanded Tk 200,000 in dowry from him.
