Posing as guest, man kills wife, injures BRTA officer, two daughters in Bangladesh

A BRTA official, his wife and two daughters came under a brutal hammer attack by a man in their Iqbal Road apartment in the capital on Monday night. The wife died from head injuries early yesterday.

The dead, Krishna Kaberi Biswas, 35, was a former college teacher.

Her husband Sitangshu Shekhar Biswas, deputy director of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), and younger daughter Artri, 8, were in a critical condition. The elder daughter, Smruti, 15, was out of danger. All three were admitted to Metropolitan Hospital, said police.

The attacker, Zahirul Islam Zahir, was known to Sitangshu, 48.

The attack was related to stockmarket business involving several crores of taka, suspect the victims' relatives.

Zahir, 30, went to the apartment around 8:30pm. He took with him packets of sweetmeats, a cake and a flower bouquet to wish Sitangshu a belated happy birthday, the relatives said.

The family, in presence of Zahir, cut the cake to celebrate the birthday.

Sitangshu and Zahir were discussing business. All of a sudden, Zahir hit Sitangshu with the hammer he was carrying in a bag, Pintu Biswas, uncle of Kaberi, quoted Smruti as saying.

As Sitangshu's wife and daughters came to his rescue, Zahir pounced on the three. He set the house on fire with gunpowder, the relatives said.

Police, however, said they did not find trace of any chemical or gunpowder.

Hearing screams for help, neighbours and the caretaker of the six-storey building rushed to the apartment on the first floor around 10:15pm.

Before going there, the caretaker had cut the power and gas supplies to the building and switched off the generator.

Kaberi's next-door neighbour Nazma and tenants from three other apartments on the same floor found Sitangshu and his two daughters standing outside their flat. The three were bleeding from their wounds and the apartment was partly on fire.

Kaberi was on fire when she was rescued by the neighbours. She died around 2:00am yesterday at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Over 15 percent of her body was burnt, said morgue sources.

The news of Kaberi's death was not yet communicated to her husband and daughters.

Biplob Kumar Sarkar, deputy commissioner (Tejgaon) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said Zahir is an employee of a brokerage house.

The body of the deceased was kept at the mortuary of Dhaka Medical College.