Police in Rangpur have arrested two local youths in connection with the brutal murders of a retired schoolteacher and three members of his family, whose bodies were discovered inside a locked house in the Masuapara area.
During a press briefing, Rangpur Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mohammed Abdul Mabud revealed disturbing details about the suspects’ actions after the killings. According to investigators, the two accused remained inside the residence for hours, taking time to bathe, eat dates and cucumbers from the refrigerator, and consume yaba tablets at the dining table before fleeing during Friday’s Jummah prayers.
The victims were identified as Ganapati Chakraborty Jewel, a 65-year-old retired teacher from Rangpur Zilla School, his 50-year-old wife Pritilata Chakraborty Vola, their 25-year-old daughter Proarthi Chakraborty, and their 12-year-old younger son Priyam Chakraborty. Their bodies were recovered on Saturday night after local authorities forced entry into the sealed property.
Sequence of Events
Investigators state that the tragedy unfolded late Thursday night when the two suspects, identified as Mugdha (23) and Siddhartha Das (19)—who are cousins and local residents—accessed the victim’s roof via an adjacent building to consume narcotics. When Ganapati Chakraborty went upstairs half-naked with a towel on his shoulder to investigate the disturbance, the suspects panicked and strangled him with his own towel to prevent exposure.
Hearing the commotion, Pritilata rushed up the stairs and met the same fate. When Proarthi attempted to intervene, she was also strangled. Forensic findings indicate the struggle to subdue the daughter took several minutes, during which a rope was used, resulting in severe facial trauma.
The suspects then targeted 12-year-old Priyam on the ground floor. Because the child was friends with Siddhartha’s younger brother and knew the attackers, the pair decided to eliminate him to remove witnesses, suffocating him with a pillow after wrapping cloth around his neck.
Investigation and Forensic Evidence
Police noted that the killers attempted to stage a burglary to mislead investigators, tossing the home’s interior and soaking mobile phones in detergent-laced water to eliminate fingerprints. However, specific physical evidence left behind—including date stones, a half-eaten cucumber, and signs of jewelry being tested for purity with fire—helped detectives connect the dots. Siddhartha, who worked as a gold artisan for approximately eight years, understood how to test precious metals.
The stolen jewellery was later recovered from an abandoned location near a local temple based on the suspects’ confessions. A formal case has been registered at Kotwali Police Station under sections 302 and 34 of the Penal Code, and authorities have confirmed that DNA samples from the recovered evidence have been sent for analysis as preparations for a swift charge sheet begin.
