Unanswered questions haunt Rangpur quadruple murder investigation

Police have arrested two youths and obtained their confessional statements in court over the killing of retired Rangpur Zilla School teacher Ganapati Chakraborty, his wife Pritilata Chakraborty and their two children, Agami and Ayush. However, investigators themselves lack clear explanations for several technical aspects of the case, deepening suspicions among the family and local residents.

The four bodies were recovered on Saturday night from the locked house in the Daspada Machhuapara area of Rangpur city. While police claimed the victims were strangled, they have failed to provide a satisfactory answer as to how the entire house's electricity connection was severed on the night of the incident. Electrician Ujjwal Kumar Barman, called in to restore the connection, told the media that the line had been deliberately disconnected. "I saw the connection was completely open. The neutral phase wire had been removed. I have never seen a line fall off like this. I believe someone removed it," he said. However, the investigating officer, Milon Kumar Chatterjee, said they had no such information .

The family has also raised questions about mobile phones. They claim each of the four victims had their own phone. Police reportedly recovered only two phones, which were found soaked in detergent. The whereabouts of the other two remain unknown.

Gopinath Chakraborty, brother of the deceased and the complainant in the case, has directly questioned whether two people could have committed such a crime alone. "It is not possible for just two people to kill four members of a family. I believe there is a bigger force and a backstory behind this murder," he said, adding that he suspects others are involved . His daughter, Krishna Talukdar, echoed the same concern, stating that while the two may have been involved, they could not have acted alone .

The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council also expressed doubts. Its president, Shimul Saha, said after visiting the spot, "What the police are saying, no one can believe. Even we cannot believe it." The organisation has demanded a judicial inquiry .

Meanwhile, the post-mortem examination has ruled out rape or acid use. Dr Bablu Kishore Biswas, assistant professor of forensic medicine at Rangpur Medical College Hospital, said the bodies had decomposed significantly, and what was initially suspected to be semen was not actually semen. He also confirmed that the facial disfigurement was due to natural decomposition, not chemical burns .

Police have decided to conduct dope tests on the arrested suspects, Mugdha Das and Siddhartha Das, to confirm drug addiction. The investigation has been transferred to the Detective Branch of Rangpur Metropolitan Police, with Inspector Jinnat Ali as the new investigating officer . The families of the accused have also demanded a fair investigation. Siddhartha's father, Binay Das, said, "I have never heard my son did drugs. No one has ever told me that. No one in the area will believe my son could be involved in such a brutal murder. Still, I want a fair investigation. If my son is guilty, I will also demand the maximum punishment for him."

On Tuesday, a memorial meeting was held at Rangpur Zilla School premises where teachers and students demanded a fair investigation and the maximum punishment for those involved .