Two arrested suspects have given confessional statements in court in connection with the murder of Ganapati Chakraborty, a retired schoolteacher, his wife, and their two children.
Police officials confirmed that the confessions of the two suspects were recorded at the Rangpur Chief Metropolitan Court-2 at around 11:30pm on Sunday. Following the recording of their statements under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), they were sent to prison under court orders.
Earlier, on Saturday dawn, the police detained two youths, Mugdho Das, 19, and Siddhartha Das, 23, on suspicion of their involvement in the quadruple murder.
On Sunday afternoon, Gopinath Chakraborty, the elder brother of the deceased retired teacher, filed a murder case at the Kotwali Police Station against unidentified individuals.
The police subsequently showed the two detained suspects arrested in the case and presented them in court at approximately 7:30pm on Sunday under tight security. The confessions were recorded before Judge Rafiqul Islam.
Kotwali Police Station Inspector (Investigation) Milan Chatterjee, who is the Investigating Officer (IO) of the case, stated that both arrested individuals had confessed to their involvement in the murders.
However, in the interest of the ongoing investigation, he did not disclose what was said in the confessions regarding the murder plans, specific details of the incident, or the potential involvement of other individuals.
Earlier on Sunday noon, Rangpur Metropolitan Police (RMP) Commissioner Abdul Mabud told a press conference that the family was killed because they had witnessed the suspects consuming yaba on the rooftop of their house.
The deceased have been identified as Ganapati Chakraborty, his wife Pritilata Chakraborty, their daughter Agami Chakraborty (also referred to as Agami Chakraborty), and their son Ayush Chakraborty (also referred to as Priyam).
According to police sources, Ganapati Chakraborty was a retired accounting teacher of Rangpur Zilla School. Post-retirement, he lived with his family in a two-storey house in the city’s Machhuapara Mandir area, where he also ran a homeopathy chamber.
RMP Commissioner Mohammad Abdul Mabud stated that on Thursday night, the accused crossed over to the roof of Ganapati’s house from a neighbouring rooftop to consume yaba. Hearing unusual noises, Ganapati went to the roof to enquire about their presence.
In an intoxicated state, the suspects strangled Ganapati by wrapping a local towel (gamchha) around his neck.
When his wife, Pritilata, rushed to the roof upon hearing his screams, she was strangled in the same manner with a gamchha. Shortly after, their daughter, Agami Chakraborty, went to the rooftop attic, where Siddhartha and Mugdho strangled her to death using a rope and a gamchha.
The suspects then entered the house and murdered the sleeping child, Priyam, by wrapping a cloth around his face and smothering him with a pillow.
During initial interrogation, the suspects admitted that after committing the murders, they showered in a bathroom in the house, ate dates from the dining table, and consumed yaba. They remained inside the house for the rest of Thursday night.
On Friday afternoon, taking advantage of the empty streets during the weekly Jummah prayers, the suspects fled the residence carrying the family’s gold jewellery. They vandalised furniture inside the house to conceal their identities and make the crime appear as a robbery.
The police added that the looted jewellery was subsequently recovered from an abandoned spot behind a nearby temple.
The crime was discovered on Saturday night. Pooja Rani, the sister-in-law of Ganapati, stated that she tried calling her sister at around 9:45pm on Saturday but found her phone switched off. She then called her brother-in-law, niece, and nephew, but all their phones were switched off, raising her suspicions.
She and her husband then went to her sister’s house. Receiving no response from the inside, they scaled the boundary wall with the help of local residents.
Upon opening a window from the outside, they saw the house in complete disarray and detected a strong stench. Locals then found the bodies and immediately notified the police.
RMP Deputy Commissioner Sanatan Chakraborty said the police would submit the charge sheet to the court as soon as they receive the autopsy reports of the deceased.
