Bangladesh Hindu family murders: locals, forensics challenge police

Sanjoy Kumar Barua

The brutal murder of four members of a Hindu family in Bangladesh has raised serious questions over a swift police briefing that produced arrests and a preliminary account, with relatives, neighbours, forensic experts and local journalists challenging key elements of the investigation and alleging that authorities are diverting the case to shield influential criminals, amid concerns over fanaticism and the safety of the country’s Hindu minority.

Police have arrested two young men, Mugdho Das, 21, and Siddhartha Das, 19, in connection with the deaths of retired schoolteacher Ganapati Chakraborty, 65, his wife Pritilata Chakraborty, their daughter Agami, 23, and their 12-year-old son Priyam.

Police allege the two suspects, who live in the same area and are maternal cousins, killed the family following a confrontation over alleged yaba consumption on the roof of the Chakraborty home.

But several people familiar with the case have questioned whether the police explanation adequately accounts for all the evidence emerging from the investigation.

A local resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, alleged that police were shielding influential criminals and attempting to divert the investigation.

“Police definitely know the influential killers and are trying to save them by diverting the case in a different direction,” the person alleged.

Dr Sharmin Iffat, an assistant professor in the Department of Forensic Medicine at Rangpur Medical College, said Ganapati Chakraborty had been her teacher.

She said the condition of the bodies indicated that the four victims had been dead for at least 60 hours before they were examined, with decomposition already beginning.

“Ganapati was my teacher,” Dr Iffat said, adding that the bodies had started to decompose by the time of examination.

Rangpur Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mohammad Abdul Mabud on Sunday, however, said the family was killed the previous night.

The investigation has become more complicated following comments from Dr Bablu Kishore Biswas, who was involved in the forensic examination.

Biswas said all four bodies had injuries on different parts of the body, including the head and chest.

“We suspect they were hit with hard objects,” he said.
He said the victims may have screamed before their deaths.

Biswas also questioned whether two people could have killed four members of the family without sustaining injuries themselves.

“It is unbelievable that only two people can kill four members of a family while the arrestees have no injury marks,” he said.

The forensic examination has also included swab tests on Priyam, his mother and his sister, according to Biswas.

The purpose is to determine whether there is evidence of sexual assault before death.

Biswas said Priyam was found completely unclothed and confirmed that a pyjama believed to belong to another person had been used to strangle the child.

Police Commissioner Abdul Mabud said the two arrested men went to the roof of the Chakraborty family’s home through an adjacent building to consume yaba.

He alleged that Ganapati confronted them and was subsequently strangled with a gamchha (cotton cloth).

Abdul Mabud said Ganapati’s wife then came upstairs, followed by their daughter, and that all three were subsequently killed.

The police official later alleged that the suspects killed the minor while he was asleep.

Police have further alleged that the suspects stayed inside the house after the killings. They reportedly bathed, ate dates and other food and later consumed yaba again.

Abdul Mabus also claimed say the alleged youths took gold ornaments and left during Friday prayers, when streets were relatively quiet.

Police also say the suspects placed mobile phones belonging to the victims in water mixed with detergent in an apparent attempt to destroy evidence.

Bishwanath Chakrabarty, a relative of the deceased family, said he noticed a large amount of betel-leaf spit in a basin.

“I saw a huge amount of betal-leaf spit in the basin,” he said.

He said the victims did not eat betal- leaf.

Bishwanath also questioned the locations of the bodies.

“My father-in-law’s body was found around 20 feet away from his wife and daughter. Their 12-year-old boy’s body was found around 50 feet away,” he said.

“How can these two youths kill four?”

He alleged that the killings were pre-planned.

“There must be a big conspiracy,” he said.

He also expressed concern about the family’s security.

“To whom will we seek justice? We are not safe in our own motherland,” he said.

Neighbour Subash Das said residents did not hear screams from the house.

“We didn’t hear any scream from the house,” he said.

He also disputed descriptions of the two suspects as drug users.

“We never saw the arrested two taking drugs. They also live adjacent to the deceased house.”

Subash said he believed the killings were pre-planned and alleged that police were concealing the truth to protect what he described as influential people behind the killings.

“It seems this is a pre-planned gruesome murder and police are trying to divert it in a different way,” he said.

The condition of the victims’ faces has also prompted questions.

Puja Chakraborty, the younger sister of Pritilata, said relatives noticed that the faces appeared burned when they received the bodies.

“When we received the bodies in the evening, we found that their faces had been burned,” she said.

Binoy Das, the father of Siddhartha Das, rejected the suggestion that his son was a drug addict.

“My son was not a drug addict. I never saw him taking drugs, and he has no previous record of misconduct,” he said.

He alleged that there was a wider conspiracy and called for a proper investigation.

A local journalist who visited the scene, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the police briefing raised questions about the sequence in which the youngest victim was killed.

The journalist pointed to the discrepancy between the police account that Priyam was killed while sleeping and the fact that his body was found under the bed.

“The police commissioner’s briefing has raised serious suspicion. He said the arrestees killed Priyam while he was sleeping in bed, but Priyam’s body was found under the bed,” the journalist said.

The journalist also raised questions about the police description of the two suspects as habitual drug users, saying that residents in the area had not known them to have a history of regular drug use.

In August 2025, Ruplal Das and Pradip Das were beaten to death by a mob in Taraganj after being accused of theft. Eight police officers were later suspended over alleged negligence in connection with the incident.

In December 2025, Jogesh Chandra Roy, a Hindu freedom fighter and former schoolteacher, and his wife Suvarna Roy were found brutally murdered at their home in Rangpur’s Taraganj.