The body of Forkan Mollah, the prime suspect in the killing of five members of his family in Gazipur’s Kapasia, was recovered from the Padma River in Munshiganj on Saturday.
Mawa Naval Police Outpost Inspector Md Ilyas said locals spotted a body floating in the river near the Louhajang Upazila Land Office around noon and informed police.
The location is about four kilometres from the Padma Bridge. Naval police recovered the body around 12pm.
Family members and the investigation officer of Kapasia Police Station primarily identified the body as that of Forkan Mollah, police said. After an inquest, the body was sent to Munshiganj General Hospital morgue for autopsy.
Munshiganj Fire Service and Civil Defence Deputy Assistant Director Muhammad Shafiqul Islam said police launched a joint operation with divers after receiving information that Forkan had jumped into the river from the Padma Bridge.
Earlier on Thursday, Gazipur Superintendent of Police Md Sharif Uddin said investigators suspected Forkan died by suicide after jumping from the bridge.
CCTV footage from 11 May showed a man wearing a white shirt and black trousers getting out of a white private car near the middle of the bridge at 6:42am before climbing over the railing and jumping into the river.
Relatives who later viewed the footage told investigators the man resembled Forkan. Police also recovered Forkan’s mobile phone from a truck helper, who found it near the bridge railing around 6:50am on the same day.
Forkan, a private car driver, had been in hiding since the killings on the night of 8 May.
According to investigators, he brought his brother-in-law Rasul Mollah from Gopalganj to Kapasia with the promise of arranging him a job at a garment factory. Police said Forkan later mixed sedatives with dinner to make family members unconscious.
Investigators alleged that he then killed his wife Sharmin, 35, elder daughter Mim, 16, younger daughter Maria, 8, and brother-in-law Rasul Mollah, 22, by slitting their throats. His two-year-old daughter Faria was allegedly strangled to death.
After the killings, Forkan allegedly sent a WhatsApp voice message to his elder brother Jabbar, confessing to the murders.
“I have killed everyone. Do not look for me anymore. You will not find me,” he allegedly said in the message, according to investigation sources.
Police said Forkan first travelled from Kapasia to Dhaka’s Malibagh in a rented private car.
Later, from the Muktangan area, he hired another private car for Tk6,000 after telling the driver that a relative had died. Investigators believe he travelled to the Padma Bridge in that vehicle before jumping into the river.
At a press briefing, Additional Superintendent of Police Affaq Uz-Zaman, Abul Khair, Amirul Islam and investigation officer Md Zubayer said investigators had not yet found evidence of involvement by anyone else in the killings.
Police said DNA testing would be conducted to confirm the final identity of the recovered body.
