Rights group flags gaps in Bangladesh police account of Hindu family killings in Rangpur

Dhaka, Aug 29 (AHN) A leading human rights organisation has cast doubt on the Bangladeshi police’s preliminary account surrounding the gruesome killings of a Hindu family in Rangpur city, citing discrepancies between the official version and information provided by the victims’ relatives, and various media reports, local media reported.

Dhaka-based rights body Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) made the observations in a press release issued after a two-member fact-finding team from the organisation visited Rangpur on August 24–25, Bangladeshi daily Dhaka Tribune reported.

The incident occurred on August 20, with police recovering the bodies of all four family members two days later, on the night of August 22.

Bangladesh police on Monday arrested two young men in connection with the killing of the retired Hindu schoolteacher and three members of his family in Rangpur city.

Police said the duo planned and carried out the murders after the former Rangpur Zilla school teacher tried to prevent them from using yaba, a potent illicit methamphetamine-based drug, on the rooftop, according to local media reports.

The accused were identified as 23-year-old Siddhartha Das and 19-year-old Mugdha Das, both detained from the Dakhiganj cremation ground in the city.

Calling the killing of four family members an “extremely brutal incident”, ASK said the case had raised serious public concern. It urged a comprehensive and impartial probe to establish the motive, sequence of events and identities of all those involved.

Highlighting gaps between the police’s preliminary explanation and accounts from the victims’ relatives, local residents and the media, the rights body stressed that these questions must be addressed through a scientific analysis of physical, digital and forensic evidence, Dhaka Tribune reported.

ASK sought a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding a call placed from Pritilata Chakraborty’s phone to her sister Puja at 2:40 a.m on August 21, which went unanswered.

The rights body noted that the concerns raised by the victims’ relatives cannot simply be brushed aside as “baseless or misleading” and must form part of the investigation. It called for the police’s account to be independently scrutinised and tested against objective evidence.

According to ASK’s preliminary fact-finding, several crucial questions remain unresolved despite the arrest of two suspects and police claims that they have confessed. These include the motive, chronology and manner of the killings, as well as the suspects’ alleged movements and activities after the incident.