Rangpur Correspondent

Police have arrested two suspects in connection with the brutal murder of four members of a family—including a retired schoolteacher, his wife, and their two children—whose bodies were recovered inside their locked home in Rangpur city on Saturday night.

The deceased were identified as Ganapati Chakraborty Jewel, 65, a retired senior teacher at Rangpur Zilla School; his wife, Pritilata Chakraborty Bala, 50; their daughter, Prarthi Chakraborty, 25, a postgraduate student; and their 12-year-old son, Priyam Chakraborty, a Class Five student.

Investigators suspect a robbery gone wrong led to the killings.

The bodies were recovered from the family’s two-storey house in the Machuapara area of Kamal Kachna under Ward 24 of Rangpur city. Police found the victims scattered in different parts of the residence: Ganapati’s body was recovered from the rooftop, his wife and daughter were found lying on the staircase leading to the third floor—with Prarthi lying on top of her mother—and young Priyam was discovered hidden under a bed on the second floor.

A Gruesome Discovery

The tragedy came to light after a relative, Puja Chakraborty, grew concerned when her repeated calls to family members went unanswered on Saturday evening.

Puja and her husband went to the property but found the main entrance locked, the doorbell non-functional, and the house completely dark. A neighbor noted that a package had arrived earlier in the afternoon, but no one had answered the door.

Determined to check on them, Puja climbed over a low boundary wall separating the properties and forced open a glass window. Shining her mobile phone light inside, she spotted clothes pulled from wardrobes and scattered across the floor. She immediately raised the alarm and notified the police.

Fire Service and Civil Defence personnel were called to break open the locked main entrance, allowing law enforcement officers to enter and discover the four bodies.

Evolving Investigation

Sanatan Chakraborty, Deputy Commissioner of the Detective Branch (DB) of Rangpur Metropolitan Police, stated that investigators believe the family was killed between late Thursday and early Friday.

“The victims showed clear signs of strangulation, with rope and pieces of cloth found wrapped around their necks,” he noted.

Sumit Chowdhury, Acting Superintendent of the CID’s Rangpur unit, added that preliminary physical evidence strongly points toward robbery as the primary motive.

“The assailants appear to have used a gamcha [a traditional cotton towel] or similar cloth to strangle the victims,” Chowdhury said. He added that the house’s power connection had been deliberately severed, and furniture used to store jewelry had been forced open and emptied.

Najmul Kader, Officer-in-Charge of Kotwali Police Station, confirmed the recovery points of the bodies. CID forensic teams spent the night gathering physical evidence from the scene before sending the bodies to the Rangpur Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsies.

Rangpur Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md Abdul Mabud emphasized that the case is receiving the highest priority, with DB officers and CID units conducting joint field operations.

A Quiet Family Mourned

Neighbors shared that the Chakraborty family had only recently moved into the unfinished house, where the ground floor remained vacant. Because the family kept largely to themselves, neighbors did not immediately find the locked premises suspicious over the weekend.

Following his retirement from teaching last December, Ganapati ran a homeopathic medical practice at a local city market. The family originally hailed from the Mirzapur area in Mithapukur upazila, on the outskirts of Rangpur.

Describing her brother-in-law as a peaceful, hardworking man who built the home after years of dedication, Puja Chakraborty demanded swift justice for her fallen family.

The news of the quadruple homicide triggered widespread outrage across the city. Students from Rangpur Zilla School and Carmichael College announced plans to hold human chains and public rallies to demand justice, while local political leaders visited the crime scene on Saturday night.

Authorities expect forensic and autopsy findings to establish the precise timeline and mechanics of the crime as joint DB and CID operations continue.