Feud over money?

Saturday's five-murder in Narayanganj was an act of “nonprofessional killers” and the victims died of head injuries caused by hitting with heavy objects, police and doctors said.                                   

All the five are from one family. They are Taslima, 35, her son Shanto, 10, daughter Sumaiya, 5, brother Morshedul, 22, and sister-in-law Lamia, 25.

It is not yet clear who committed the murder and why.

Meanwhile, Taslima's husband Shafiqul filed a murder case with Narayanganj Sadar Police Station yesterday, accusing some unknown persons.

In the case statement, Shafiqul said Taslima had been hiding in Narayanganj in fear of Shahjahan and his wife Nazma from whom Taslima had borrowed Tk 12 lakh.

Shafiqul, a private car driver, mentioned that the couple had threatened Taslima over the matter. He also mentioned that a man named Mahfuz used to stalk Lamia, and this could be a reason for the murders.

A senior police official of Narayanganj said primary investigation found that Taslima indeed fled from Dhanmondi area after failing to pay the loan. “We suspect the killers went to Narayanganj from Dhaka.”

Md Asaduzzaman, resident medical officer at General (Victoria) Hospital in Narayanganj where the victims' autopsies were conducted, said there were marks of strangle on their throats as well.

“But they were hit abruptly in their heads by heavy objects. This caused internal bleeding in their brains, leading to their deaths,” he told reporters yesterday.

The nature of the hitting indicates the perpetrators were not professional killers, he added.

Police recovered the bodies from the ground floor of a six-storey building at Baburail in Narayanganj on Saturday night.

Taslima's sister-in-law Hazera Begum went to the house around 9:00pm and she found the door locked from outside and could not reach them by phone, police said.

She along with some neighbours then broke into the flat and found the bodies. She later called the police.

Cops picked up six to seven people, including Lamia's (one of the victims) husband Sharif, for questioning. Sharif works at a mobile phone shop in the capital. He went to Narayanganj on Friday.

Nothing inside the flat has any sign of damage and nothing seems to be stolen either, police said. 

Morshedul, another victim, had a sewing factory near the building where the killing happened. Those working there were his relatives.

The two kids -- Shanto and Sumaiya -- started going to schools in the area only recently. Shanto was still wearing his school uniform and had the schoolbag on his back when police recovered the bodies.

Taslima rented the house one and a half months ago. The family members would hardly make any noise or receive any guests, said Monir Hossain, a neighbour.

Several other neighbours said they did not know the victims in person.

Contacted, Khandker Mahid Uddin, superintendent of police in Narayanganj, said police were gathering information about the personal and social lives of the victims.

Asked about their findings, he said it was too early to tell, but added the killers might have been known to the victims.

Mahfuzul Haque Nuruzzaman, deputy inspector general (Dhaka range) of police, said police would perform a viscera test of the food collected from the crime scene to determine if the victims were drugged to unconsciousness before the murder.

Rab Director General Benazir Ahmed said the elite force would conduct a “shadow investigation” into the incident.