A murder similar to the killing of retired teacher Ganapati Chakraborty, his wife, son and daughter in Rangpur’s Machuapara took place in June. In that incident in Raipur, Lakshmipur, on 25 June, a young man hacked a mother and her three daughters to death.
The victims were Shahinur Begum, 40, and her three daughters, Saima Akter, 21, Iqra, 17, and Sipa, 10.
Not only in Rangpur and Lakshmipur, but in different parts of the country, there have been 18 incidents in the past six months—from 24 February to 24 August—in which multiple members of the same family were killed. At least 47 people were killed in these incidents. In some cases, two members of a family were killed; in others, three, four or five members were killed.
The police headquarters does not maintain separate statistics on the killing of multiple members of the same family. The 18 incidents were identified from reports published by seven news organisations.
Analysis shows that some of the incidents were linked to property or land disputes, while drugs emerged as a factor in others. Police have also said some incidents were caused by marital or family disputes. The causes of some incidents remain unknown.
Sociologists and crime analysts say a series of multiple killings is creating a sense of insecurity among people. At first glance, the incidents may not appear to have much in common. But deeper analysis reveals some common factors.
For example, weak controls have made drugs readily available, leading to an increase in drug addiction. Drug users are committing crimes including murder. Dangerous drugs have spread to such an extent that addicts can lose their sense of judgment.
Analysts also say land disputes are a major problem in Bangladesh. Successive governments have failed to make it easier to resolve such disputes. The rule of law has not been firmly established. As a result, land disputes are behind numerous clashes and killings in the country.
Touhidul Haque, an associate professor of social welfare at Dhaka University who researches crime, told Prothom Alo that the causes vary from one incident to another.
“But behind each of them is an issue of social and structural insecurity. Family disputes, property, influence and a tendency toward revenge, along with the lack of prompt investigation and trial of crimes, are also among the major causes of such violence,” he said.
The incidents are frightening and alarming
In the Raipur, Lakshmipur incident, eyewitnesses said a young man entered a house at around noon with a machete and hacked the mother and her three daughters, seriously injuring them. Two died at the scene and two others died in hospital. The accused was identified as Antar Majumder.
Antar Majumder was caught and beaten by local residents while trying to flee after the killings. He subsequently died. Why he hacked the four victims to death remains unknown. Local residents, however, said Antar was a drug addict. Police, meanwhile, said the killings may have been committed over money for drugs.
Five days after the killings, Shahin Mia, then officer-in-charge of Raipur Police Station, told a law and order committee meeting that Antar had been addicted to drugs for around seven to eight years. He used to beat his parents at home for money to buy drugs.
Police have also linked drugs to the killing of four members of the same family in Rangpur. On Saturday night, the bodies of Ganapati Chakraborty, 65, his wife Pritilata Chakraborty, 50, daughter Agami Chakraborty, 25, and son Ayush Chakraborty, 12, were recovered from their home in Machuapara. Police said all four had been strangled.
Police arrested two young men, Mugdha Das, 23, and Siddhartha Das, 19, from Machuapara early Sunday morning in connection with the killings. At a press conference that day, Rangpur Metropolitan Police Commissioner Abdul Mabud claimed that Ganapati Chakraborty, his wife, son and daughter were killed after they objected to people using the roof of their house to take yaba.
There are, however, doubts over whether this was indeed the actual motive. The case was transferred from the police station to the Detective Branch (DB) on Tuesday.
In Anwara, Chattogram, Swapan Das Gupta, 65, and his wife Kalpana Das Gupta, 55, were killed on 25 July. Their only son, Rimon Das Gupta, has been accused of the killings. Police and local sources said Rimon, who was addicted to drugs, had been unemployed for a long time. He allegedly hacked his parents to death following an argument over employment. Thus, two social problems—drug addiction and unemployment—emerged in this case.
In Sylhet city’s Raynagar Mitali residential area, businessman Abdus Sattar, 90, his wife Suraiya Begum, 76, and their domestic worker Tahmina, 20, were killed at their home on the morning of 12 August. That afternoon, police arrested a man named Babul Mia, 40, from the Raynagar area on suspicion of involvement in the killings.
Police said Babul Mia worked as a painter and butcher. Initially, Sylhet Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sarwar Murshed Shamim told the media that Babul had developed a relationship with domestic worker Tahmina over a period of 15 to 20 days. Following a dispute in the relationship, Babul allegedly killed Tahmina first and then the couple. The victims’ relatives, however, rejected the police’s claim.
Two days after the killings, Selina Sultana, the couple’s daughter who lives in the UK, filed a murder case at Sylhet Kotwali Police Station. She did not name Babul, who had been detained. In the case statement, she alleged that the killings were linked to a land dispute. Police, however, said Babul Mia gave a statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure on 20 August.
Over the past six months, there have also been allegations of a husband killing his wife and children in Atrai; sons killing their father and stepbrother in Dinajpur; a younger brother-in-law killing his sister-in-law and nephew in Manikganj; a husband killing his wife and mother-in-law in the capital’s Kalabagan; and a father killing his two young children in Sunamganj. In a widely discussed case involving five killings in Kapasia, Gazipur, the husband of one of the female victims has been made the prime accused.
Of the 18 incidents analysed by Prothom Alo, two members of the same family were killed in 12 cases. Three members were killed in two cases, four members in three cases and five members in one case.
Five of the 18 incidents occurred in May alone. In the first 24 days of August, there were also five incidents in which people were killed along with their relatives. In other words, 27 members of the same families were killed in 10 incidents in May and August alone. Threats and disputes were reported in at least seven of the 18 incidents.
At least 14 of the 18 incidents took place in houses, rented homes, residences or other living quarters. This raises the question: Are people no longer safe even inside their homes?
AHM Shahadat Hossain, spokesperson for the police headquarters and an additional inspector general, told Prothom Alo that a sense of security is fundamentally a matter of mutual trust between the state and citizens.
“Security is not simply about the presence of police on the streets. True law and order is established when a person feels safe even after closing the door of their own home,” he said.
He said police therefore take killings inside homes very seriously. A portion of such crimes is now being committed over personal disputes, family conflicts, property or financial disputes and previous enmity—issues that often arise beyond the visible presence of police.
Shahadat Hossain said police are working not only to arrest suspects after crimes are committed, but also to identify and prevent the causes and risks associated with crime.
In some cases, however, people are taking the law into their own hands. For example, on 16 April in Manikganj, angry residents attacked the family of a teenager suspected of killing a seven-year-old child. The boy’s father and uncle were killed in a mob beating.
Crime analysts say when a culture of impunity develops, people take the law into their own hands. In a study titled “Investigating the Reasons for the Low Conviction Rate in Murder Cases,” the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) analysed data from 238 cases and reported in May last year that all the accused had been acquitted in 52 per cent of the cases.
Murder cases on the rise
According to police headquarters data, the number of murder cases in the country has also increased. From January to July 2026, a total of 2,076 murder cases were filed, compared with 1,947 during the same period in 2025. That means the number of murder cases increased by 129 in the first seven months of this year.
Crime expert and Dhaka University Associate Professor Touhidul Haque said the security situation cannot be understood simply by looking at the number of cases. The state must create an environment where people feel safe everywhere—in their families, among neighbours and in society.