The assailant came to the flat of Sitangshu Shekhar Bishwas, deputy director of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, on Monday night with gifts and food to greet him on his belated birthday. He was apparently known to the family.
He gave Sitangshu juice, presumably laced with sedatives, that he had brought. After drinking the juice, Sitangshu fell unconscious, and then the man hit his head with a hammer.
As Krishna Kaberi Bishwas, 36, wife of the BRTA official, came to the living room with a boti, a unique kitchen sickle, the killer snatched it and hacked her on the head.
Stunned at the incidents, the couple’s daughters Adri, 6, and Shruti, 15, rushed to the living room of the second floor flat of a building on Iqbal Road, Mohammadpur to save their parents. They were also hit and eventually fled. Shruti informed their neighbours about the attack over land phone.
Before leaving the house, the killer switched off the light in the living room and set the room on fire. He also threw Krishna into the fire, Sanchita Bishwas, sister of Sitangshu, told the Dhaka Tribune quoting Shruti.
Krishna, who is a teacher at Mission International College in Adabar, Mohammadpur, was critically injured. The neighbours took the couple to Care Hospital at Asad Gate and later to Mohakhali’s Dhaka Metropolitan Hospital where Krishna succumbed to her injuries around 3am.
Doctors said both Sitangshu and Adri were in a critical state from excessive bleeding and were being treated at the Intensive Care Unit. Shruti was recovering in a regular cabin.
Relatives, neighbours and security guard of the building identified the killer as Zakir Hossain, manager of a broker house named Hazi Ahmed Securities, who had been known to the family and visited them around 9pm on Monday night. As the man identified himself at the reception, Sitangshu, whose birthday had passed several days ago, asked the guard to allow Zakir.
Sanchita said the attacker had addressed Sitangshu as “sir.”
Sitangshu’s neighbour Saber Ahmed said they had found the BRTA official and his daughters bleeding and lying on the floor. “We brought them to our flat. When I went to rescue his wife, we found the flat filled with smoke. I rescued her – burnt and bleeding severely,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
Hailing from Rajbari, Sitangshu is a serving deputy director for operation in BRTA head office. Shruti is a grade X student while Adri reads in class II.
Azizul Islam, OC of Mohammadpur police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that they were yet to learn about the motive behind the killing.
“We have got some clues and vital information from the victims’ relatives. We will talk to the victims once they get well.”