Police are hunting for Rafiq Howladar, the stepfather of two children, as the main suspect in the brutal triple murder of a grandmother and her two grandsons in Khulna’s Sonadanga area, with no arrests made nearly 24 hours after the bodies were discovered.
Preliminary investigations suggest the murders of Baby Begum (62), and her grandsons Shamim (13) and Mostakim (4), were carried out as an act of revenge stemming from long-standing family resentment, police said.
The bodies were recovered on Saturday evening from the house of SM Shariful Islam on Darul Aman Mosque Road in Sonadanga. On Saturday night, the biological father of the two children, Masum Bepari, filed a murder case as the plaintiff at Sonadanga Police Station.
Police conducted overnight operations in the Maheshwar Pasha and Maniktala areas of Daulatpur Police Station to arrest Rafiq, but were unsuccessful, said investigating officer and Sonadanga Police Station’s OC (Investigation) Animesh Mandal.
According to police, after Mary Begum’s first husband, Masum Bepari, divorced her, she married Rafiq Howladar, son of Alamgir Howladar of Maniktala area. Since the marriage, Mary’s mother, Baby Begum, and her elder son, Shamim, did not approve, leading to frequent altercations.
On Eid night (Thursday) around 12:30am, a quarrel broke out. Baby Begum expelled Rafiq from the house, saying, “I have forbidden you from coming here.”
The investigating officer said that after the argument, the grandmother and her two grandsons fell asleep in their room while Mary Begum slept in an adjacent room. Around 8am Friday, Mary woke up to find her room door locked from the outside.
After some effort, Rafiq opened the door. He falsely claimed that Baby Begum had left with the two sons and locked the room before leaving. Both Mary and Rafiq were believed to be under the influence of drugs at the time.
As the day progressed, Mary searched various places but never thought to break the lock of the adjacent room. Instead of contacting police, she consulted traditional healers. Later, when Mary’s aunt, Renu Begum, went to check on Baby Begum, she noticed a foul smell. Rafiq claimed a rat had died inside.
When Mary went to bring a blade to cut the lock, Rafiq fled the scene. Locals then broke open the door and found Baby Begum’s body under the bed and Shamim’s body wrapped in a blanket on top of a trunk. They called 999, and Sonadanga police arrived. The body of Mostakim was later recovered from a wardrobe by a CID team.
OC (Investigation) Animesh Mandal said it is believed that Rafiq had the key to the main gate and entered between 12:30am and 2:30am to commit the murders. The three victims had eaten together on Saturday afternoon.
Rafiq is a truck driver by profession and has a previous theft case registered against him. Both Mary Begum and Rafiq are drug addicts, police said.
Meanwhile, the mother, Mary Begum, who was taken into custody for questioning, is expected to be released to other family members. After the completion of autopsies on Sunday afternoon, the three bodies were handed over to the family.
