Investigators are yet to locate the key suspect in the murder of college teacher Krishna Kaberi Biswas, the wife of a BRTA official who was killed during an attack on her family in the capital’s Mohammadpur on Monday.
Although three days have passed since the attack, the police are yet to unearth any major lead against the key suspect – KM Jahirul Islam alias Palash.
The only witnesses – BRTA Deputy Director Sitangshu Shekhar Biswas and his two daughters Shruti and Adri – have so far been unable to speak to investigators, as they were all recovering from injuries in hospital and were not in any condition to make a police statement.
The motive behind the attack could be known once the police were able to speak to the surviving victims, said Mohammadpur police station Sub-Inspector Mahbubur Rahman.
The police have so far searched all possible hideouts of Jahirul but were unable to locate him, said Mahbubur, who is also the investigation officer for the case.
He added that all mobile phone connections belonging to Jahirul and his family members were turned off, barring the police from tracing the murder suspect using network signals.
Sitangshu’s brother Sudhangshu Shekhar Biswas filed a murder case with Mohammadpur police on Tuesday, naming Jahirul as the main accused.
According to the police, Jahirul – who works as manager of Hazi Ahmed Brothers Securities’ Gulshan branch – was familiar to the family.
On Monday night, the killer entered the flat of Sitangshu and attacked the BRTA official and his family members. Kaberi, 36, was initially hacked with a kitchen sickle and later set on fire; she died the following day.
Sitangshu and Adri regained conscious after surgeries were performed on them, but the doctors recommended against any kind of verbal communication until they were feeling better.
Dr Suprio Sarker, a family friend of the victims, told the Dhaka Tribune that Shruti was also recovering fast.
Sitangshu’s family, meanwhile, claimed that some media houses had been publishing fabricated stories suggesting that the BRTA official had resorted to corrupt means to invest large amounts of money in the stock market. They urged journalists not to publish any story that violated the family’s privacy during their time of grief or might cause the case to be misled.
Himangshu Biswas, elder brother of Sitangshu said the date of Kaberi’s funeral will be fixed after Sitangshu is able to communicate his wishes on this regard.
