Police recovered Polly's body dumped inside an abandoned barrel on a road in Jatrabari Tuesday night. She came to Bangladesh about a month ago and had been living with her husband in New Zealand for several years.

The brutal homicide story surfaced after law enforcers arrested Gafur's younger brother Belal on Wednesday. He, during interrogation, confessed to having hired hit man Sarwar for Tk 1 lakh, police sources said.

Belal confessed that his elder brother Gafur, who is a construction businessman, instructed him to have Poly killed so that he would be able to draw Polly's life insurance money. Belal also mentioned that Polly had a life insurance of several million US dollars in New Zealand, sources said.

The sources quoting the statement of Belal said the relationship between the expatriate couple had not been well over the last few years as Polly allegedly had affairs in New Zealand.

Following the confessional statement of Belal, police arrested Sarwar from his hometown in Sirajganj Thursday night. He also confessed to his involvement in the killing, the sources claimed.

Belal through one of his friend hired Sarwar, who was recently released from jail in a snatching case, and planned the murder, police sources quoting Belal said.

Polly hailed from Fatullah in Narayanganj. She returned to Bangladesh on April 29 to register a piece of land in her name in Bashundhara housing project in Badda, for which she had been paying regular instalments.

In the morning of May 22 around 8:00am Polly left home to have a look at the piece of land at Bashundhara and get it registered. She went to Belal's office at Ramna Bhaban to take him with her.

In the office, Belal drugged Polly into slumber by serving sleeping-pill-mixed beverage. Sarwar then strangled Polly to death with her scarf between 12:30pm and 1:00pm, sources quoting Belal said.

Soon after the murder, they placed the body inside a barrel and handed it over to a rickshaw-van puller to have the barrel disposed of somewhere, sources mentioning Belal's confessional statement said. Sarwar was fully paid after the killing.

The rickshaw-van puller, however, left the barrel on the road at Purba Dhulairpar in Jatrabari. Locals found the body the same night and informed police. Police sent the body to Sir Salimullah Medical College morgue for autopsy where family members of Polly identified the body on Wednesday.

Police arrested Belal when he went to the hospital morgue to see the body. Earlier, Tuhin, a cousin of Polly, told police that when he called Polly over cellphone around 11:00am that day Polly said she was in Belal's office then, police sources said.

Police also seized four other barrels from Belal's office having the same serial numbers found on the barrel from which Polly's body was recovered. Police took Belal on a 10-day remand on May 24.