Bangladesh wife-mauling suspect Sumon found dead
A Bangladeshi man suspected of mauling his university lecturer wife in an assault has died in a prison hospital, police say.
Police say they are not certain how Syeed Hasan Sumon died. His body was discovered early on Monday morning.
The case attracted much interest in Bangladesh, where reports of middle class domestic violence are unusual.
Mr Sumon - who had denied the allegations against him - went on the run after the incident.
He was eventually caught by police and sent to jail to await trial.
His wife, Assistant Professor Rumana Manjur, was beaten so severely in June that she lost one eye while the other was badly wounded.
'Gouged and gnawed'
Police said her husband had died while undergoing treatment for "various illnesses".
A police spokesman told the BBC that an investigation into the circumstances of his death was under way, and that it was too early to say whether it was suicide.
Prof Manjur said she had been assaulted several times by her husband after returning to Bangladesh in June from Canada, where she is now completing a Fulbright Scholarship.
"He pushed his fingers into my eyes," she told journalists at the time, "and dragged me by my hair on the floor."
She said that that at one stage Mr Sumon had repeatedly gnawed her nose, face and throat.
Our Bangladesh correspondent Anbarasan Ethirajan says the incident triggered shock and widespread condemnation in the country, with many many activists calling for proper implementation of laws to curb domestic violence.