Four members of a family, including a retired schoolteacher, his wife and their two children, were found dead inside their locked home in Rangpur city on Saturday night, with police suspecting that a robbery may have led to the killings.

The victims were identified as Ganapati Chakraborty Jewel, 65, a retired senior teacher of 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 pupil.

Police detained two people in connection with the killings as investigators began examining the possible robbery motive.

The bodies were recovered from the family’s two-storey house in the Machuapara area of Kamal Kachna in Ward 24 of Rangpur city.

Police found the bodies in different parts of the house. Ganapati’s body was on the rooftop, while those of his wife and daughter were found on the staircase leading to the third floor, with Prarthi lying on top of her mother. Priyam’s body was found under a bed on the second floor.

The killings came to light after the victims’ relative Puja Chakraborty became concerned when none of the family members answered her calls on Saturday evening.

She first called Pritilata, followed by her brother-in-law, niece and nephew. None of the calls was answered.

Puja and her husband then went to the house but found the main gate locked. The doorbell was also not working and the house was dark.

A neighbour told them that a delivery had arrived at the house earlier in the afternoon but nobody had opened the door.

Puja said she climbed over a low wall separating the two properties and forced open a glass window. Using her mobile phone’s torch, she looked inside and saw clothes scattered across the floor after apparently being pulled out of a wardrobe.

She then raised the alarm and called the police.

As the main entrance was locked, fire service and civil defence personnel were called in to break open the door. Police subsequently discovered the four bodies inside the house.

Police suspect robbery

Sanatan Chakraborty, deputy commissioner of the Detective Branch of Rangpur Metropolitan Police, said investigators believed the family had been killed on Thursday or Friday, possibly one to three days before their bodies were recovered.

The victims showed signs of strangulation, he said, adding that rope and pieces of cloth were found around their necks.

Sumit Chowdhury, acting superintendent of the CID’s Rangpur unit, said preliminary evidence suggested that robbery could have been the motive.

The assailants appeared to have used a gamcha, a traditional cotton towel, or a similar piece of cloth to strangle the victims, he said.

The electricity connection to the house had also apparently been deliberately cut, while furniture believed to have been used to store jewellery had been broken open and emptied, according to the CID official.

Najmul Kader, officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station, confirmed the locations where the bodies were found.

Forensic teams from the CID’s crime scene unit worked through the night collecting evidence from the house. The bodies were sent to Rangpur Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examinations.

Rangpur Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md Abdul Mabud said the killings were being investigated with the utmost seriousness.

Detective Branch officers and several CID teams remained at the crime scene on Sunday as investigators continued collecting evidence and questioning people.

Family had recently moved into house

Neighbours said the Chakraborty family had moved into the house only recently. The building was still under construction, with the ground floor remaining vacant.

As the family had not yet developed close relationships with many neighbours, people in the area did not immediately become suspicious despite the house remaining locked.

Ganapati retired from teaching in December last year. He later ran a homoeopathic practice at a city market, where he regularly saw patients.

His ancestral home was in the Mirzapur area of Mithapukur upazila on the outskirts of Rangpur.

Puja Chakraborty described her brother-in-law as a quiet and hardworking man who had built the house through years of effort.

Expressing grief and concern over the killings, she demanded justice for the family.

Students plan protests

News of the quadruple killing spread rapidly across Rangpur, triggering widespread concern.

Students of Rangpur Zilla School and Carmichael College announced plans to form a human chain and hold a protest demanding justice for the victims.

Leaders of the Rangpur unit of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party also visited the crime scene on Saturday night.

Police said the investigation was being conducted jointly by the Detective Branch and CID.

Forensic and post-mortem findings are expected to help investigators establish the exact time and cause of the deaths and determine how the killings took place.