Man held after mysterious death of son

A man in the capital's Bangla Motor held one of his sons hostage for six hours while keeping the body of his other son -- who he was suspected of killing -- next to him.

With his two-year-old son's body wrapped in a shroud next to him and his other three-and-a-half year old son on his lap, Nuruzzaman Kajol had kept himself holed inside his Bangla Motor residence since yesterday morning

He held a machete in his hand, sometimes putting it against the throat of his son -- Surayet -- who was alive, in order to dissuade anyone from entering the premises.

Scared, family members, law enforcers and onlookers waited outside helplessly. They feared the fate that awaited Surayet as Kajol -- a known drug addict -- had been threatening to kill him if anyone tried to enter the house.

The tense situation continued for around six hours until Kajol finally gave in and came out of house, along with Surayet, at 1:50pm.

It took a local imam to convince him to come out who offered to conduct the Namaj-e-Janaza of Kajol's dead son Shafayet.

As soon as Kajol stepped out, police immediately took him in custody and rescued Surayet with the help of the fire service officials. They then sent Shafayet's body to Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy.

During questioning, Kajol, 38, at times denied killing his son, claiming he was electrocuted to death but then changed the statement to say he himself killed the child, Abul Hasan, officer-in-charge of Shahbagh Police Station, said.

No injury marks were found on the body, he said, adding that an autopsy would determine the cause of death.

Kajol had held his son hostage to escape arrest, said OC Hasan.

The events unfolded early yesterday, when Kajol informed his mother about the death of his son over phone. Later, he went to a local madrasa and took four students and a khadem to his house so they could offer prayers for the departed, family members and police said. 

He later went to Azimpur and acquired a grave beside his father's one. Afterwards, he returned to the locality and made the announcement of his son's death over a local mosque's loudspeaker and asked all to attend his son's Namaj-e-Janaza at 1:00pm. 

Soon family members, including Kajol's mother and wife, rushed to the house followed by police. As soon as Kajol saw them all, he got angry and chased them with a machete, said his mother Amena Begum, who had visited her grandchildren just three days ago.

Afterwards, police officers tried to get Kajol to surrender but he responded with abusive words and issued threats to kill Surayet, OC Hasan said, adding they waited for the Imam to come after Zuhr prayers.

Azharul Islam, the imam, told The Daily Star that Kajol had called him before Zuhr and asked him to bring two of his cousins to Kajol's house for the janaza.

“When police and I reached his house around 1:45pm, Kajol initially refused to come out after seeing the law enforcers but I convinced him by saying that the police were there for his own security,” Azharul added.

Police apprehended Kajol as soon as he came out.

Most of the furniture and other belongings in the house were found destroyed, police said.

Family members and neighbours said Kajol had driven away his wife Priya and other relatives from their two-storey house around three months ago. Since then, Kajol had been living there with his two sons. He would stay inside most of the time and never allow anyone else into his residence.  At most, he would come out to ask locals to get him meals from nearby restaurants.

“My other brothers, who also own the property on the five kathas of land [where the house is on], were forced to leave the house as Kajol used to torture them, vandalise their belongings and even attack them with machetes,” Rokeya Begum Keya, Kajol's step-sister, told The Daily Star.

There was a dispute among the brothers over the land, a family member said.

Rokeya also said Kajol used to love his sons very much, although he would not allow them to go with their mother.

Police had arrested Kajol a couple of months ago after one of his brothers filed an assault case against him with Shahbagh Police Station. He came out of jail on bail a month later.

His mother Amena said Kajol got addicted to drugs 10 to 12 years ago and his condition deteriorated after he started abusing yaba. His business also suffered because of this and he incurred a loss of Tk 50 lakh.