Police last night recovered five of a family with throats slit in a house in Baburail area of Narayanganj sadar upazila.
The dead are Taslima, 35, her daughter Sumayia, 7, son Shanto, 10, brother Morshedul Islam, 20, and sister-in-law Lamia, 20.
According to police, the murders might have been committed sometime between Friday night and yesterday morning.
Taslima’s brother-in-law Shobuj said he and his mother found the two-room apartment locked from the outside when they came to visit the family yesterday afternoon. They tried Taslima’s mobile phone but found it unreachable. Even the neighbours could not give them any idea where the family could have gone.
Several hours later they informed police, who came and broke into the apartment and found the dead bodies – three on the floor in one room and the two others in the second room, Shobuj said.
Mohammad Ali, deputy inspector general of police, who visited the crime scene late last night, said they were primarily suspecting that the murders might be results of family feud.
The DIG also said that they had so far arrested two people in connection with the murders.
Based on primary findings, police believe that the killers were possibly acquaintances of the family and paid frequent visits. Investigators are also ruling out theft or robbery because nothing so far have been reported missing from the small apartment and there were no signs of struggle.
While talking to our Narayanganj correspondent Tanvir Hossain, Taslima’s mother Morsheda Begum said the killings might be result of disputes over money matters that her son-in-law Shafiqul Islam might have had with some lenders in Dhaka.
Taslima’s husband Shafiqul, who drives the car of a private company in Dhaka’s Hatirpul, is now in police custody and being interrogated.
Morsheda said Shafiqul had borrowed several hundred thousand taka at high interest rate from some powerful moneylenders in Dhaka. But he has not been able to pay the interests and so the moneylenders have been threatening him for quite some time.
Shafiqul used to live in Dhanmondi along with his family; they moved to the small apartment in Narayanganj only three months ago, Morsheda said.
She also said that the people to whom her son-in-law owed the money might be behind the murders.
Both the families of Morsheda and Shafiqul hailed from the Nandail upazila of Mymensingh.
The Crime Scene Unit of police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) collected evidence from the apartment. Officials of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have also visited the place.
When this report was being filed around 1:10am, the dead bodies were still at the crime scene. Police said the bodies would be sent to the 100-bed General Hospital in Narayanganj sadar upazila for autopsy.
