Police investigation finds 2 reasons behind mother’s suicide after killing 2 daughters at Dak Bungalow

Police have released an investigation report into the deaths of a mother and her two daughters whose bodies were recovered from the Borguna District's Dak Bungalow.

According to the report, the mother killed her two daughters before taking her own life due to financial hardship in the family and the pressure of repaying loans and instalments amounting to Tk 400,000.

Borguna Additional Superintendent of Police Md Mukit Hasan Khan presented various aspects of the investigation report at a press conference at the district police office at 5:00 pm on Thursday.

On 3 March this year, the bodies of Iti Rani, 34, and her two daughters, Aradhya Biswas, 11, and Anuradha Biswas, 3, were recovered from two rooms on the third floor of the Borguna District Council Dak Bungalow.

Iti worked as a temporary cleaner at the Dak Bungalow. She was the wife of Dulal Chandra Biswas, a resident of Kalibari Road in the municipality.

According to the autopsy report, Iti Rani died from chemical poisoning, and her death was ruled a suicide. The report stated that her daughters, Aradhya and Anuradha, died from poisoning by similar chemicals as well as strangulation.

The physicians concerned concluded that their deaths were homicides. However, no evidence of rape was found in any of the cases.

The police investigation found that Dulal Chandra Biswas was a betel nut trader and a tailor by profession. It was difficult to meet the family's expenses with the income from his small tailoring shop and limited betel nut business. Their ancestral homestead was lost to river erosion around 30 years ago. Since then, they had been living on government land, according to the investigation.

According to police, Iti Rani had borrowed Tk 227,723 from five non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in microfinance, while Dulal Chandra Biswas had taken a loan of Tk 80,000 from another NGO. They had also borrowed Tk 100,000 from two individuals -- Anil Ray and Babul Ray. Their total outstanding loans amounted to Tk 407,723. Iti Rani was worried about repaying the loan instalments.

The police investigation stated that Iti Rani had joined the Borguna District Council Dak Bungalow as a cleaner about two months before her death, with a monthly salary of Tk 3,000, to improve the family's financial condition and support her husband.

The report said she was driven by despair stemming from the family's financial crisis and the pressure of debt to kill her daughters before taking her own life.

After analysing footage from the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at the District Council Dak Bungalow, police found that Iti Rani entered the premises with her two daughters at 10:45 am on the day of the incident. They then went to the second floor.

At 10:50:47 am, her elder daughter Aradhya entered Room No. 3. A short while later, Iti Rani left her younger daughter Anuradha in Room No. 4 and entered Room No. 3. At 11:13:23 am, Iti Rani came out of Room No. 3 and entered Room No. 4 at 11:13:26 am. None of them was subsequently seen leaving the rooms alive.

The police investigation report stated that Iti Rani mixed sedative medication with soft drinks or drinking water and gave it to her two daughters. She then strangled them to death before consuming the sedative medication herself to commit suicide.

Iti Rani's husband, Dulal Chandra Biswas, told Prothom Alo, “The police have not informed me anything about the autopsy report. I do not even know what is written in it. It is impossible that my wife would kill our two children because of debt. I do not accept this autopsy report. I reject it. My wife and two children were deliberately murdered.”

Barguna Additional Superintendent of Police (Administration and Finance) Md Mukit Hasan Khan told Prothom Alo, “We have shared what our investigating officer found. Since we have received the autopsy report, we will now submit the police report.”

Regarding the complainant's rejection of the autopsy report, Mukit Hasan Khan said, “We did not issue the autopsy report. It was issued by the medical authorities.”