4 of a family found dead in Rajshahi home

Police yesterday recovered the bodies of four members of a family in Bamunshikar village of Rajshahi's Paba upazila.

In a room, a man was found hanging from a ceiling fan while his son lay dead on the bed. In the adjacent room, his wife and younger daughter were found dead. A two-page note was recovered beside the bodies.

The deceased were Minarul Islam, 35, a farmer, his wife Monira Begum, 28, their son Mahin, 13, and two-year-old daughter, Mithila.

Sayeed Ali, chairman of Parila Union Parishad, told The Daily Star that Minarul had been mentally distressed. "He used to gamble. However, due to gambling, he had fallen into debt with some locals."

His father, Rustom Ali, said his son had some debt in the area, but it was not much. "I sold my land to pay it off. I don't know if he had taken any new loans without my knowledge."

Following the incident, Rajshahi Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md Abu Sufian visited the spot around 11:00am.

He said initial evidence suggested that Minarul suffocated his wife and children to death before hanging himself. The bodies would be sent to a hospital for autopsies, and a case would be filed over the incident.

"A short note was found, in which he wrote about being in debt and financial hardship. 'We have chosen death due to debt and hunger'," the commissioner said.

CID and PBI teams collected evidence from the crime scene. Further details will be known after investigation, the commissioner added.

In the evening, Gaziur Rahman, additional deputy commissioner (media) of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, told this newspaper that two cases were being filed over the incident. "The autopsies have not been conducted yet and will be done tomorrow [today] morning."