Questions have emerged on social media over the shirt worn by one of the suspects arrested in connection with the killing of four members of a family in Rangpur. A police officer seen at the scene on the day the bodies were recovered was also wearing what appeared to be a similar shirt, prompting discussion among social media users.
The incident took place in Machuapara area of Rangpur city, where police recovered the bodies of former Rangpur Zilla School teacher Ganapati Chakraborty, his wife, and their son and daughter from a locked house on Saturday, 22 August.
The following day, Ganapati Chakraborty’s elder brother, Gopinath Chakraborty, filed a murder case with Kotwali Police Station against unidentified individuals.
Police have so far arrested two young men, identified as Siddhartha and Mugdha, in connection with the killings. Both are residents of Machuapara, where the victims’ house is also located.
According to police, the two suspects allegedly used drugs inside the building after the killings. One of them reportedly fled after sensing the presence of law enforcement officers during an operation. He allegedly hid in a mulberry garden belonging to the Bangladesh Sericulture Development Board before being arrested from Dakshiganj cremation ground near the garden.
The issue surrounding the shirt gained attention after footage broadcast live by several local Facebook pages showed a masked man climbing the stairs of the building on the day the bodies were recovered. The man was later identified as an officer of Rangpur Metropolitan Police. His shirt appeared similar to the one worn by one of the arrested suspects.
The police officer, however, said there was nothing unusual about the similarity, pointing out that the same type of shirt could be worn by different people.
Police have said the two suspects admitted their involvement during preliminary questioning. According to information attributed to their interrogation, Siddhartha and Mugdha allegedly bought yaba from a drug dealer on Thursday night and consumed it at the home of a man named Simanta, located near Ganapati Chakraborty’s residence.
Later that night, they allegedly moved from the roof of an under-construction building owned by a man named Debu to the roof of Ganapati Chakraborty’s house. While they were taking drugs there, they reportedly made a noise, prompting Ganapati Chakraborty to come upstairs wearing no shirt and with a towel around his neck.
The police commissioner said at a press conference that the investigation had made significant progress within a short period following the killings. He urged people to acknowledge the police’s positive work while also criticising any shortcomings and said that the public could place its trust in the police.
The two suspects were produced before the court at around 5pm on Sunday, 23 August. They subsequently gave confessional statements under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Rafiqul Islam.
Milton Chatterjee, the investigation officer and an inspector of Kotwali Police Station, confirmed that both suspects had admitted responsibility for the killings in their statements before the court. As they had already made confessional statements, police did not seek further remand.
The similarity between the shirts has nevertheless become a talking point surrounding the case. Whether the clothing has any evidentiary significance will depend on the findings of the ongoing investigation. Police are also expected to establish the full circumstances of the four deaths and determine whether anyone else was involved.
