Law enforcement agencies have launched an investigation into the five brutal murders in Narayanganj, with the needle of suspicion pointing towards two prior enmities— one involving a possible extramarital affair and the other the delayed repayment of a loan. They are also investigating whether some family members of the deceased family were involved with any criminal group. On Saturday night, police recovered the bodies of five murder victims from a house at Baburail in Narayanganj. They were identified as Taslima Begum, 28, her son Shanto, 10, her daughter Sumaiya, 4, brother Mosharaf alias Morshedul, 22, and sister-in-law Lamia, 20. None of the killers have been identified or arrested yet by law enforcement agencies.
Shafiqul Islam, husband of the slain Taslima Begum, filed a case against unknown persons with Narayanganj Sadar Police Station, said officer-in-charge (investigating officer) Shahjalal. While talking to this correspondent at the police station yesterday afternoon, Shafiqul told that he suspected some persons from whom his wife had borrowed Tk 12 lakh and his brother-in-law Moshraf borrowed another large sum of money on interest.
He  also said,”For the past few months, one Nazma Begum (Mobile 01749187453) and her husband, a CNG driver hailing from Barisal district and now living at Kalabagan in the capital, Shajahan—had been threatening to kill Shafiq Islam and members of his family if they did not pay back the money they had borrowed.
‘‘Mosharaf had also loaned money from different people for business purposes,’’  he said adding that the lenders used to threaten his wife and  Mosharaf by coming to their residence in the capital’s Kalabagan area.
Shafiq also alleged that his nephew, Mahfuz, had made illicit advances several times to Lamia, the slain wife of his younger brother Sharif when they were in the capital. ‘‘When Lamia left the capital and shifted to Narayanganj, Mahfuz continued to sexually harass her in my absence after he (Mahfuz) joined in a work under Mosharaf in Narayanganj. Lamia disclosed the illicit advances to my wife and to my brother Sharif.  As Lamia had rejected his proposal for sexual relations and later disclosed it to my wife and her husband Sharif, Mahfuz became very angry and had threatened to kill her, along with those family members who had opposed his indecent proposals to his own maternal aunt.” said Shafiqul.
On being pressured by two sides, one by the lenders and to avoid the illicit advanced of his nephew Mahfuz towards Lamia , Shafiq  shifted his family members from Dhaka to the house in Narayanganj in October last year,  he said.
However, Inspector Abdur Razzak of Police Investigation Bureau(PBI) said,‘‘Shafiq and his relatives are trying to hide something.  I suspect that some members of the deceased including Taslima and Mosharaf may have been involved with a criminal group in the capital.”
‘‘It is difficult to believe that any persons will give Tk 12 lakh to such a poor family,’’ he said, adding that they are also investigating whether Taslima and her others family members were involved in illegal drug trading.
  Deputy Inspector general (Dhaka range) AKM Mahfuzul Haque Nuruzzaman, who visited the spot, said, “We've picked up some people to identify the motive behind the five murders.”
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Director General Benazir Ahmed said the killings could have been triggered by a family feud. “However, we're considering all possible aspects in our investigation,” he added, refusing to divulge any clue.
He also opined that the murderers had killed the two children to eliminate all witnesses, as they were probably known to the children.
The victims died of head injuries, according to the autopsy reports.
Md. Asaduzzaman, resident medical officer of Narayanganj General (Victoria) Hospital, said the victims had died because of heavy injuries to their heads and of suffocation. As a result of the head injuries—probably caused by blunt objects—all the victims suffered internal bleeding or haemorrhage inside their heads, he explained.
Responding to a query whether the victims had been made unconscious with the help of sedatives before being killed, Asaduzzaman said, “We're yet to confirm this. We're waiting for viscera reports.”
Though the police have taken seven men into custody for questioning, by several teams, no clue has been found yet. The police emphasised the financial angle—a feud over a monetary transaction—as one of the vital issues behind the murders.
The slain Taslima’s cousins, Shahadat and Delowar, the victim Lamia’s husband Sharif, Mahfuz (nephew of Shafiq and Sharif), and Morsheda Begum, the slain Taslima’s mother, have already been questioned to unearth the clue.
But among them, police is intensely grilling Mahfuz for his alleged involvement in the killing, some police officials on condition of anonymities said The assistant superintendent of police of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Narayanganj, Ehsan Choudhury, said the murders were most probably carried out by a lender. The tenant of an adjacent flat of the slain five members of the family, Rahima Khatun, said it was under lock and key since around 10am on Saturday. However, the autopsy team opined that the killing may have been committed almost 24 fours hour before the time of the post-mortem. Md Ismail Hossain, the owner of the house where the murders took place, said they had taken the flat on the ground floor of his building on rent for Tk. 5,500 on October 1 last year.