A retired schoolteacher, his wife, daughter and 12-year-old son were found dead inside their locked home in Rangpur city late Saturday night, with police suspecting that the family may have been strangled.
The bodies were recovered around 11.30 pm, according to Nazmul Kader, officer-in-charge of Rangpur Metropolitan Kotwali Police Station.
The deceased were identified as retired Rangpur Zilla School teacher Ganapati Chakraborty, 65, his wife Pritilata Chakraborty, 50, their daughter Agami Chakraborty Prarthi, 23, and son Priyam Chakraborty, 12.
Subir Chowdhury, in-charge of Rangpur Metropolitan CID, told The Daily Star that the bodies of Pritilata and Agami were found on the staircase, while Ganapati's body was recovered from the roof. Priyam's body was found underneath a bed.
“Initially, we suspect that they were strangled,” Chowdhury said, adding that the killings may have taken place sometime between midnight on Thursday and early Friday.
Police have since detained two young men, identified as Mughdho and Siddhartha, in connection with the killings, and said the family may have been targeted after objecting to the suspects taking Yaba, which is an illegal and highly addictive synthetic drug, on the rooftop of their home.
According to Bangladesh media outlets, Rangpur Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mohammad Abdul Mabud said at a briefing on Sunday that the two suspects allegedly entered the rooftop of Ganapati Chakraborty's house through a neighbouring building and took Yaba there. According to Mabud, the suspects allegedly killed Ganapati to prevent him from revealing their identities. They are accused of strangling the retired schoolteacher with a cotton towel, that he was carrying on his shoulder.
Police also suspect that 12-year-old Priyam was killed because he could have identified the two men. Mabud said the child knew the suspects and was a friend of Siddhartha's younger brother, Apurba.
According to relatives, all four family members' mobile phones had been switched off since Thursday night.
Puja Chakraborty, Pritilata's younger sister, told The Daily Star that she last spoke to her sister on Thursday afternoon. After the phones remained unreachable, relatives went to the house on Saturday night.
The main gate was locked and the lights inside the house were switched off. Police later arrived, broke open the lock and entered the property, where they found the four bodies.
Puja said the family had recently built a new house in the area and that she was unaware of anyone having a dispute with Ganapati.
Ganapati retired from Rangpur Zilla School on December 31 last year. His daughter completed her master's degree in English from Rangpur Carmichael College this year, while his son was a Class 5 student at Rangpur Zilla School.
Ganapati's niece Soma Chakraborty said he had no known enemies. She added that he had started working as a homeopathic practitioner after retirement.
Local resident Sudhangshu Chandra Das said the family had lived in the area for around four years. Ganapati had built the three-storey house, although construction work was still incomplete.
Rangpur Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mohammad Abdul Mabud said the case was being investigated with the highest priority.
He said the exact cause of death would be established after the autopsy reports are received, while Detective Branch personnel are working to determine what happened and identify those responsible.
Source: India Today