A woman and her five-year-old daughter were found dead at their house in Boalkhali upazila of Chittagong yesterday.

They are Shelly Shill, 35, wife of Asim Shill, an assistant to a lawyer, and their daughter Antora Shill.

Salahuddin Chowdhury, officer-in-charge of Boalkhali Police Station, said on information, police recovered the hanging body of Shelly from her bedroom in Kunjuri Bottala village, while Anotra's body was found lying in the bed.

“Primarily, it seems that Antora was strangled to death,” said the police official, adding, “Shelly's body was hanging from a ceiling fan of her bedroom.”

“We found that Shelly's mother-in-law, who is an elderly woman, was in the house and her husband [Asim] was at work in Chittagong city,” said the OC.

Shelly's mother-in-law said Shelly, who had a quarrel with her husband a few days ago, might have committed suicide between 7:00am and 11:00am.

“The case seems to be mysterious. We are investigating to find out whether Shelly took her life after killing her daughter or they were murdered,” said the OC.

The bodies were sent to Chittagong Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsies.