United News of Bangladesh

Four members of a family, including a former schoolteacher, were found dead at their home in the Machuapara Mandir area of Rangpur city on Saturday night, with police suspecting that they were killed three to four days ago. Police recovered the bodies from different places of the house – one on the rooftop, two in the terrace and one inside a room – around 11:30pm, said acting Superintendent of Police of Rangpur Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police Sumit Chowdhury. Police also said they detained three people for questioning in connection with the incident. However, their identities were not disclosed. The deceased were identified as Ganapati Chakraborty alias Jewel, 65, a former teacher of Rangpur Zilla School, his wife Pritilata Chakraborty, 50, their daughter Parthi Chakraborty, 25, and son Priyam Chakraborty, 12. Police said the rooms of the house were found ransacked, while places where cash and gold ornaments were reportedly kept appeared to have been broken open. Ganapati Chakraborty, after retiring from teaching, had been running a homoeopathic treatment chamber at his residence. His daughter Parthi was a master's student at Carmichael College, while Priyam was a fifth-grade student at Rangpur Zilla School. The family’s ancestral home is in Mirzapur union of Mithapukur upazila. According to police, relatives became suspicious after failing to reach any member of the family over the phone. They went to the house on Saturday night and found the main entrance locked from inside. With the help of local residents, they entered the premises by climbing over a wall from a neighbouring house and opened a window. They found the rooms in disarray and noticed a strong foul smell before discovering the bodies. Locals then informed police, and a team from Kotwali Police Station went to the scene. Members of the CID Crime Scene unit and other police units also joined the investigation. Shefali Rani, sister-in-law of Ganapati, said they learned around 10:00pm on Saturday that no one in the house was answering phone calls. She later came to the house by microbus with her daughter and son-in-law. Pritilata’s sister Puja Rani said she first called her sister around 9:45pm but found her phone switched off. Officer-in-Charge of Rangpur Kotwali Police Station Nazmul Kader said police and CID officials were working to identify the killers. CID SP Sumit said it cannot be said immediately how they were killed. “However, judging the condition of the bodies, we suspect the killings took place three to four days ago," he told reporters.