Maldives police on Tuesday all but ruled out foul play in the death of Maldives student and model Raudha Athif in Bangladesh but stopped short of ruling it as suicide claiming an ongoing investigation.
The 20 year old was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her dorm room in the morning of March 29.
Despite Bangladesh police initially ruling her death as suicide, her family had continued to insist that they have facts to support their claim that Raudha was murdered.
Raudha's father, Dr. Mohamed Athif, noted that Raudha's death could not be ruled a suicide as facts such as the inconsistent strangulation marks around her neck pointed towards murder.
Raudha's close friend and the first person to discover her body, Seerat Parveen Mohamed has also emerged as a key suspect in Raudha's death.
During a press conference on Monday, Chief Superintendent Mohamed Riyaz who led the two member team to Bangladesh to gather information related to the investigation told reporters that there was no signs of forced entry or her death had been staged to cover up the murder.
Dr Athif had earlier cited a broken mirror and damage to some furniture in his daughter's room as possible signs of a struggle. Riyaz however, said the extensive testimonies from her classmates, college management and other information gathered clearly suggested that the damage to the furniture had not been recent.
"We had found that several students and even security guards had been present when they forced open the door to Raudha's room. So it is highly unlikely that so many people could've been involved in a cover-up," Riyaz said.
Riyaz also said the strangulation marks on Raudha's neck was consistent with the scarf she was found hanging from.
Riyaz had also shed light on Raudha consulting a doctor the night before her death where Seerat had been accused of following the victim.
"Based on the information we gathered from talking to other students, we found that Seerat and Raudha had gone to the doctor separately and Seerat had returned to the dorm well before Raudha," he explained.
"We believe that the last person to see Raudha alive after she returned from the doctor was a another Maldivian student."
Raudha's mother had earlier said Seerat had tried to drug her daughter weeks before her death. However, Riyaz said from the information gathered from their mobile phones there was nothing to indicate that it happened.
"But we found a slight disagreement between them over a missed class," he added.
Several media reports had also indicated that Raudha had been murdered by Bangladesh extremists.
When asked about the reports, Riyaz refused to comment, but said there had not been any threat to the safety of Raudha or the other three Maldivian female students studying at the college at anytime.
Bangladeshi police had earlier said key facts surrounding Raudha's death had been uncovered from her phone which fueled rumours saying that she had a spat with her boyfriend the night before her death.
Riyaz refused to divulge details citing privacy but said a local had also provided information related to the facts uncovered from Raudha's social media accounts.
Police had also accused "someone" of trying to divert focus over Raudha's death and said a separate investigation has been launched over the suspicions.
Two years ago, while experimenting with her pictures on social media she became a sensation in the country as the ‘Maldivian Girl With Aqua Blue Eyes’.
The picture landed her on the cover of Vogue along with five other women from South Asia.
