Forensic experts’ suspicion that the two siblings from Dhaka’s Banasree might have been murdered get reinforced further as investigators yesterday said information provided by the parents and relatives did not match.
The family initially claimed the children had died from food poisoning on Monday, hours after “consuming contaminated food” at home. But after postmortem examinations, Dhaka Medical College forensic experts hinted at foul play.
They said they had found injury marks on the children’s neck. The boy had injury marks on his legs and his sister in the eyes. They said they were waiting for visceral test results to determine the cause of death.
Fourteen-year-old Nusrat Jahan and six-year-old Alvi Aman were declared dead at the DMCH after they had been brought there unconscious on Monday night. Family members claimed that the children slept after having leftover Chinese food at lunch and did not wake up.
Investigators said the mother Mahfuza Malek Jesmin had the same meal with her children but both Mahfuza and her sister Afroza Akter claimed only the children had Chinese food.
Besides, Mahfuza chose to stay at home when her children were taken to a nearby hospital, an act the investigators dubbed “unusual and suspicious.”
Afroza on Monday had told reporters at the DMCH that her sister and the children’s grandmother were at home at that time. Afroza, who lives down the road, claimed she had gone to her sister’s house after Mahfuza called her over phone.
Amanullah had rushed to the DMCH from his office.
Investigators said they were yet to find out the reason that had led to the murder. RAB 3 Commanding Officer Lt Col Khondokar Golam Sarowar, said a RAB team had brought back the parents – Amanullah and Mahfuza – and Afroza to Dhaka from Jamalpur yesterday.
RAB 3 Additional SP Mostaq Ahmed told reporters in Jamalpur that they had interrogated the couple for three hours before they were sent back. Sarowar said although they suspected family members’ involvement, they did not have enough evidence against anyone.
Sources close to the investigators said they suspected the children were murdered between 4pm and 6pm. The siblings were buried in Jamalpur yesterday.
Officials of Al-Razi Islamia Hospital said Afroza and two others brought the children there in an apparent unconscious state. However, duty doctor Abdullah-Al Maruf said their primary tests did not indicate that the siblings were alive.
Police said they had doubts about the food poisoning story. “Our initial investigation at the restaurant, from where the food was bought, did not find any evidence that the food there was toxic enough to cause death,” said Rampura Inspector Mustafizur Rahman.
The family’s maid said she had seen packed Chinese food in fridge.
Families in Banasree neighbourhood declined comment on the incident. A man claimed Nusrat’s tutor Sheuly Akhter, 28, had said her student opened the door around 3pm on Monday for her.
He further quoted Sheuly as saying that when she left the house at around 4:15pm, Nusrat’s mother was asleep and her grandmother was there too. Both the children were alive at that time.
RAB picked up Sheuly, two of Nusrat’s relatives and two security guards of the buildings for questioning.
RAB did not clarify if the five had been freed as of yesterday. Rampura SI Somen Kumar Barua, who is investigating the incident, said they would take in the parents and the aunt once RAB released them.
Meanwhile, the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Kazi Kamrul Islam yesterday ordered the chief of CID’s analysis department to conduct DNA profiling and chemical tests of evidence seized from the house.
Somen sought court order for DNA profiling test of bed sheet, pillow cover, tissue paper and blanket of the bed in which the children slept; chemical test of the leftover food and water bottle from the restaurant.
No case was filed until yesterday night with police over the incident. Police said they would start a case if the parents did not.