Protests erupt in Barguna over deaths of mother, two daughters at government guesthouse

Hundreds of residents and relatives flooded the streets of Barguna town on Thursday evening (June 4), demanding justice in the mysterious deaths of a mother and her two young daughters whose bodies were found a day earlier at a district government guesthouse.

The protest march began around 5:30pm shortly after the bodies of Ity Rani, 34, Aradhya Biswas, 11, and Anuradha Biswas, 3, were handed over to their family following autopsies at Barguna General Hospital morgue.

The procession moved through the town's major thoroughfares before converging at the family's residence in the Kalibari area.

The three were found dead on Wednesday afternoon across two rooms on the third floor of the district council Dak Bungalow — a state-run guesthouse — where Ity Rani had been employed as a temporary cleaner. Investigators recovered sleeping pills and a water bottle from the scene.

"This was a premeditated act. Our family rejects any suggestion of suicide. We demand a full, transparent investigation and the release of all CCTV footage from the premises," family members said.

Family members also categorically rejected police suggestions that the deaths may have been self-inflicted, alleging the three were murdered. Their accusations gained public traction as civil society members, religious leaders, and social organisations joined a separate human chain earlier in the day — a rare display of broad community solidarity in the district.

Speakers at both events accused authorities of stalling the investigation — specifically by delaying the autopsy process — though no evidence was presented to substantiate the claim. The calls centred on three demands: a transparent probe, identification and prosecution of those responsible, and the immediate release of CCTV footage from the Dak Bungalow.

Barguna Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge Abdul Alim acknowledged the public grievance as understandable. "The family's protests are natural given the circumstances," he told reporters. "The investigation is ongoing and only the full autopsy report and inquiry findings will determine whether these deaths were suicides or homicide. No final conclusion has been reached."

Police have not named any suspect or person of interest. The cause of death and the chain of events leading up to the discovery remain under active investigation.