A wave of profound grief swept through the village of Char Kakra in Companiganj as hundreds gathered to bid a final farewell to Kamal Uddin Babul, his wife, and their young daughter, who were victims of a brutal triple murder in Rome, Italy.
The bodies of Babul, 39, his 38-year-old wife, and their five-year-old daughter, Arwa Islam Arisha, were buried in their family graveyard on Friday following a funeral prayer (janaza) held after Maghrib at the Shishu Niketan Government Primary School grounds.
The remains had arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 8am earlier that day.
In a scene that left few eyes dry, the couple’s son, Ayon, arrived in his ancestral home on Friday afternoon to witness the burial of his entire immediate family.
Ayon, the sole survivor of the attack, had been fighting for his life at Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital for over a month. Bearing the weight of an unimaginable loss, he reached Bangladesh just hours before his parents and sister were lowered into the earth.
The tragedy has left Babul’s elderly father, Sirajul Islam, utterly devastated. He recounted through tears how his son, during a recent visit on leave, had helped tend to the very family graveyard where he now rests.
“My son recently came home on leave and put soil on his own graveyard. Today, he has gone to sleep under that same earth with his wife and only little daughter… my heart is breaking!” he lamented.
The horrific incident took place on the night of 26 June in an apartment on Via Montiglio in the Casalotti area of Rome. Italian police discovered the mutilated bodies of the three victims, while Ayon was rescued in a critical condition.
While a first Janaza was held on 11 August at Piazza Ormea in Rome, the primary suspect remains at large.
Italian law enforcement identified Md Shahadat Hossain, 40, the member secretary of Companiganj Upazila Swechchhasebak Dal, as the main suspect and released his photograph on 27 June, but no arrest has been made in the seven weeks since the crime.
The lack of progress in the investigation has added to the family’s frustration. Babul’s cousin, Yunus, described him as a devoted brother to five sisters who was deeply committed to social work in his community.
“We cannot accept their passing like this. The fact that the accused has not been caught after all this time is making us even more frustrated,” he said.
While the motive remains under investigation by Italian authorities, the family revealed that they had previously been targeted by threats.
On 2 July 2025, a letter from a dacoit group calling itself “Lal Bahini” was left at their home in Char Kakra, demanding money and jewellery under the threat of killing the children and torturing the women.
At the time, Babul’s father had filed formal complaints with the Companiganj police station and a local army camp regarding the extortion attempt.
