A private car driver has confessed to killing his wife, three daughters and brother-in-law by slitting their throats in Kapasia upazila of Gazipur, police said.
The accused, Forkan Mia, called his brother after the murders and said, “I have finished off everyone in the family. You will not find me if you look,” according to family members.
The deceased have been identified as Forkan’s wife Sharmin Khanam (30), eldest daughter Mim Khanam (15), second daughter Umme Habiba (8), youngest daughter Faria (2), and brother-in-law Rasul Mia (22).
Sharmin’s paternal home is in the Paikandi area of Gopalganj district, while Forkan’s ancestral home is in the Meri Gopinathpur area of Gopalganj Sadar upazila.
Khabir Molla, uncle of Sharmin and Rasul, said that after Rasul went to Sharmin’s house on Friday, his mobile phone was switched off by 8pm. Everyone assumed the phone had run out of charge.
At 5:30am on Saturday, Jabbar Molla, Forkan’s brother, called and said everyone in Sharmin’s house was dead.
Asked how they died, Jabbar said his brother had called him and said, “I have finished off everyone in the family. You will not find me if you look,” before hanging up.
Firoza Begum (60), mother of Sharmin and Rasul, has been left distraught after losing her children and grandchildren. Beating her chest and wailing, she kept saying, “They have killed my children. They have finished off the treasures of my heart. What will I live for now, O Allah…”
In a tearful voice, she added, “My son had bought new clothes. Wearing those clothes, he went to his sister’s house smiling. Who knew that that going would be his last.”
Shahadat and Firoza have four daughters and three sons. Sharmin is the third child, while Rasul was the youngest. The eldest daughter died from an illness a few years after her marriage.
Khabir Molla said, “If you kill children in front of their parents, how can the parents survive? My brother is a village chowkidar. He raised his children with great difficulty through poverty and hardship.”
Rasul Mia worked in a garment factory in Gazipur and used to stay at his elder sister Fatema’s house.
Forkan Mia married Sharmin Akhter about 17 years ago. After living at his in-laws’ house for a few years following the wedding, they moved to Dhaka. Six months ago, they relocated to Kapasia in Gazipur, where Forkan drove a private car to support the family.
The motive behind the killings remains unclear.
After autopsies, the bodies are scheduled to be taken to Gopalganj for burial in Paikandi village, family members said.
