Case filed over killing of 4 family members in Lakshmipur

A case was filed on Friday (26 June) over the brutal killing of four members of a family in Lakshmipur's Raipur municipality, as investigators continued to probe the motive behind the attack and whether others were involved.

The son of one of the victims filed the case with Raipur Police Station in connection with the murders.

The alleged attacker, identified as 28-year-old Antar Majumder, was later beaten to death by an angry mob.

No case has yet been filed over Antar's death, although police said preparations were under way to register one.

The victims — a mother and her three daughters — were hacked to death at their home in a busy residential area of the municipality on Thursday.

They were identified as Shahinur Begum, 38, and her daughters, Sayma Akter, 21, Nafisa Akter Ikra, 17, and Fatema Akter Shifa, 10.

Following post-mortem examinations at Lakshmipur Sadar Hospital, the bodies were handed over to their relatives. Family members said they would be taken to the family's ancestral home for burial.

According to police and eyewitnesses, the attack took place on Thursday morning at a ground-floor flat of a five-storey building owned by Amir Hossain Master on Dhanhata Riverbank Road in Raipur municipality.

Hearing screams from the flat, a neighbour, Afroza Begum Rani, reportedly saw a man inside through a window and locked the building's main gate from the outside, trapping the suspect.

After alerting nearby residents, locals entered the flat and found the four victims lying in pools of blood.

The suspect allegedly climbed onto the roof and attempted to escape via a neighbouring building but was caught by local residents and beaten. He later died from his injuries.

Police said Antar had lived as a tenant on the fifth floor of the same building for around one and a half years before moving out about eight months ago.

Investigators are examining whether robbery was the motive, as the suspect reportedly knew tenants paid their rent to Shahinur and that she kept some gold jewellery at home.

Raipur Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Shahin Mia said the complaint filed by the victim's son was being processed as a formal case.

"District Police and Detective Branch personnel in plain clothes are working extensively in the field. A five-member investigation committee has been formed to probe the incident, and the investigation is ongoing," he said.

Lakshmipur Sadar Hospital Residential Medical Officer (RMO) Dr Arup Pal said post-mortem examinations had been completed on all four victims.

"Each of them sustained sharp-weapon injuries to the head, chest, hands and other parts of the body," he said.