A Rangpur court on Monday rejected a three-day remand plea for two suspects in the murder of four members of a family and allowed police to question them at the jail gate for two days.
Judge Rafiqul Islam passed the order after a hearing on the remand plea filed by investigation officer Zinat Ali.
The suspects are Siddhartha Das and Mugdha Das, who are currently detained at Rangpur Central Jail. Police will be allowed to question each of them for three hours a day over two days.
Zinat Ali, also officer-in-charge of the Detective Branch of Rangpur Metropolitan Police, confirmed the matter.
Meanwhile, police said drug tests on the two suspects found no trace of amphetamine or other drugs.
Rangpur Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner (DB) Sanatan Chakrabarty said urine samples were collected from the suspects at the central jail on Sunday for security reasons.
A laboratory technologist and an assistant from Rangpur Medical College were present during the collection.
He said the samples were collected about eight days after the suspects were arrested and nearly 10 days after the killings, which may explain why no trace of drugs was detected.
Police said hair and blood samples would also be tested. However, Rangpur Medical College does not currently have the facilities required for those tests, and they will be conducted later according to procedure.
The negative drug-test results have raised questions over the police claim that the killings were linked to a dispute over the suspects’ alleged Yaba use.
The bodies of retired Rangpur Zilla School teacher Ganapati Chakraborty, his wife and their two children were recovered from their home in Machhuapara, Rangpur city, on 22 August.
Police subsequently arrested neighbours Siddhartha and Mugdha and said both had given confessional statements before a court under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Police have claimed that the four family members were killed following a dispute after the victims allegedly objected to the suspects’ Yaba use.
Ganapati’s elder brother, Gopinath Chakraborty, filed a murder case with Kotwali Police Station in Rangpur against unidentified accused.
