Nine members of late Anwar Hossain Fakir's family committed suicide jumping under a running train near their residence at Kashor on Wednesday. The dead were identified as Hena Begum, 60, wife of late Anwar Hossain Fakir, their daughters Mobi, 40, Akhtari Begum, 35, Murshida, 30, and Shabnam, 10, their sons Arif, 26 and Rahat 18, and Mobi's son Mollah, 8 and her daughter Mariam, 10.

Tariqul Alam Tuhin, a nephew of Hena, said the rumour that they all had converted to Christianity was sparked by two coffins found at the house of the victims, but those two coffins had actually been used to carry Anwar Hossain Fakir's body from Dhaka to Kashor after he had died in Birdem Hospital in the capital in 2000, and the other coffin had been used to carry his elder son Mahi's body from Dhaka after he had been killed at Kalabagan in the capital in 2003.

The family members might have preserved the coffins with great care as memories of the deceased, Tuhin added.

Anwar Hossain Fakir, also known as Dervish Baba in the locality, was an ex-army man and a gold medal winning boxer of the Pakistan Army before the independence. He settled at Kashor in Mymensingh town near the house of his in-laws in 1972 after retirement.

Tuhin said till 1995 the family had been devoted to regular Muslim religious activities but after Anwar Fakir had taken up a self styled religiosity, the family stopped following their regular practices.

"That might have made the local people believe that the family did not follow Islamic rules," said Tuhin terming the assumption that the family members had converted to Christianity, 'a rumour and nothing else'.

Tuhin told The Daily Star that after Anwar Hossain's death in 2000, a dispute erupted between the local people and the family over Anwar Fakir's burial, as the family members wanted to wrap Anwar's body in a red cloth and bury him sitting in the grave complying with 'the will of Anwar'.

"Since then a chasm between Anwar's family and the local people started to form making the family increasingly isolated from the neighbours," said Tuhin, who claims to have been very close to Mahi.

As the family avoided the local people, the locals also avoided them, he said adding, "We, as relatives tried on several occasions to establish good relations among them."

Another relative of Anwar Fakir said they avoided the family only to maintain good relations with the local people.

Tuhin said Mahi used to meet the family's financial needs after his father's death, but the killing of Mahi in 2003 left the family in a financial crisis. Arif, another son of Anwar, who used to work for a private firm, started to contribute to the family after Mahi's death, but the support was not enough, Tuhin noted.

"Financial constraint however was not the cause of the suicide," Tuhin said adding that all the family members were fervent followers of late Anwar Hossain Fakir.

A source said Zayeda Khatun, 85, mother of Hena, was informed of the suicide, turning her speechless with shock.

Anjuman-e-mafidul Islam buried the bodies in local Kalibari graveyard under the supervision of Mymensingh municipality as relatives were not willing to receive the bodies, said Officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station Dipak Mazumder.

Following filling of an unnatural death case with Jamalpur Railway Police, officer-in-charge of the department, Abdus Salam Bhuiyan, is investigating the case, said Assistant Sub-Inspector Hayat Mahmud.

"Jamalpur Raiway Police is investigating the case and we are rendering all necessary supports," said Mymensingh Police Superintendent Rafiqul Islam. The spot is under the jurisdiction of Jamalpur Railway Police, he added.

Currently an eerie silence is prevailing at the victims' residence which is now sealed off and being guarded by police.