Two weeks after the gruesome murder of four members of a family in Rangpur city, investigators are yet to determine the exact motive behind the killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tofayel Ahmed, deputy commissioner (crimes and operations) of Rangpur Metropolitan Police, said investigators were close to solving the mystery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe motive will be revealed very soon,\u201d<\/strong> he told The Daily Star<\/em>, adding that investigators were examining multiple angles and intelligence officers were working extensively on the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two suspects arrested in connection with the murders were interrogated over the past two days to cross-check their confessional statements made before a magistrate on August 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Retired Rangpur Zilla School teacher Ganapati Chakraborty, 65, his wife Pritilata Chakraborty, 50, daughter Agami, 25, and son Priyam, 12, were allegedly strangled to death at their home in the city’s Daspara (Machhuapara) area on August 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their bodies were recovered at around 11:00pm on August 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On August 23, Ganapati’s brother Gopinath Chakraborty filed a case against unidentified persons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier that day, police arrested Siddhartha Das, 19, and Mugdho Das, 23. Later that night, the two suspects appeared before Rangpur Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Rafiqul Islam and confessed to their involvement in the killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At a press briefing on August 23, police said the suspects had strangled Ganapati on the rooftop, his wife and daughter on the staircase, and his son while he was asleep inside the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Police initially said the murders took place between 2:00am and 3:00am on August 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, several details changed during a subsequent briefing on August 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Police then said a land-related dispute could be behind the killings and revised the timing of the murders to the morning of August 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the revised account, Ganapati, his wife and daughter were killed on the rooftop, while Priyam was killed inside the house. Police also said Priyam was awake at the time and had recognised Siddhartha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The changes in the police narrative have raised questions among the victims’ relatives and local residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The initial police account also mentioned that the suspects were discovered while taking yaba before the killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, eight days after their arrest, the two suspects tested negative for drugs on August 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Experts had previously said that drugs are generally unlikely to remain detectable in urine beyond five to seven days in regular users and two to four days in occasional users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, swab samples collected from the mother and daughter tested negative for rape on August 24. Experts noted that such tests in deceased persons may not always be conclusive unless samples are collected within around 10 to 12 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Autopsies confirmed that all four victims died from strangulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The killings have triggered protests by local residents, teachers, students and relatives of the victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Protesters have expressed a lack of confidence in the police investigation and demanded a judicial inquiry into the murders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gopinath Chakraborty, the victim’s brother, said the family was still in the dark about why the killings took place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe still do not know why my younger brother and his family were killed. Police are not telling us anything. The mystery remains unresolved,\u201d<\/strong> he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With conflicting details emerging during the investigation, pressure is mounting on police to establish the motive, verify the suspects’ confessions and provide a clear account of what happened to the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investigators, however, maintain that the case is nearing a breakthrough and that the motive will be disclosed soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two weeks after the gruesome murder of four members of a family in Rangpur city, investigators are yet to determine the exact motive behind the killings. Tofayel Ahmed, deputy commissioner (crimes and operations) of Rangpur Metropolitan Police, said investigators were close to solving the mystery. \u201cThe motive will be revealed very soon,\u201d he told The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,44],"tags":[779,823,897,807,929,828,898],"class_list":{"0":"post-2393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bangladesh","8":"category-national","9":"tag-bangladesh","10":"tag-bangladesh-politics","11":"tag-bnp","12":"tag-democracy","13":"tag-ganapati","14":"tag-human-rights","15":"tag-tarquie-rahman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2393"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2395,"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2393\/revisions\/2395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.thenationix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Four members of family killed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Police statements changed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Drug test raises further questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Growing public pressure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n