The dope test reports of two accused in the Rangpur four-murder case have come back negative, with no evidence of drug use found in their blood or urine samples.
Rangpur Metropolitan Detective Branch (DB) Deputy Commissioner Sanatan Chakraborty confirmed the matter on Monday afternoon, saying no signs of drug use were detected.
The samples of accused Mugdha Das and Siddharth Das, who are currently in Rangpur Central Jail, were collected on Sunday after the court approved a request for their dope tests.
Investigating DB police Officer-in-Charge Jinnat Ali said the accused were not taken out of the prison for security reasons. Instead, technologists from Rangpur Medical College were brought to the jail to collect their blood and urine samples.
Rangpur Medical College technologist Mohammad Ashraf said urine samples were collected from the two accused for testing.
Sanatan Chakraborty, also the spokesperson for Rangpur Metropolitan Police, said the case was highly sensitive and there was a risk of attacks or mob gatherings if the accused were taken outside the prison.
He said the tests conducted at the Rangpur Medical College laboratory found no evidence of drug use and the reports were subsequently submitted as negative.
Sanatan Chakraborty declined to comment further on the reports.
Police had cited drug use as motive
The negative dope tests have raised questions about the police’s earlier account of the motive behind the killings.
Police had said the accused, Siddharth and Mugdha Das, consumed four yaba tablets at their friend Simanta Das’s house before going to the home of retired schoolteacher Ganapati Chakraborty.
According to the police account, they later went to the house of alleged drug dealer Shanto and bought four more yaba tablets by pawning their mobile phones. They then climbed onto the roof of a neighbouring house and entered Ganapati’s roof, where they allegedly consumed yaba.
Police said Ganapati saw them, shouted and threatened them, after which the accused allegedly killed him and three members of his family.
The police’s account has come under renewed scrutiny following the negative dope test results.
Four members of family killed
On the night of August 22, police recovered the bodies of Ganapati Chakraborty, his wife, daughter and son from a locked house in the Masuapara, also known as Daspara, area of Rangpur city.
Neighbours Mugdha Das and Siddharth Das were subsequently arrested in connection with the killings.
Ganapati’s elder brother Gopinath Chakraborty filed a murder case with Kotwali police station.
The two accused later gave confessional statements under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure before a court.
The case is currently being investigated by the police’s Detective Branch.
