Narayanganj five-murder accused Mahfuz ‘confesses’ to killings

Police say Mahfuz, accused of killing five members of a family in Narayanganj, has confessed to the crime in court.

Narayanganj Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 21 Jan 2016, 02:00 PM
Updated : 21 Jan 2016, 02:00 PM

Police have said Mahfuz, nephew of victim Taslima Begum’s husband Shafiqul Islam, admitted that he had killed four of his extended family by hitting them on the head with a grinding stone and another by pushing his head hard against a wall.

He was arrested a day after the killings at Shafiqul’s house at Baburail on Jan 16.

The victims other than Taslima, 40, are her son Shanto, 10, daughter Sumayia, 5, brother Mosharraf Hossain Morshed, 25, and Lamia, 25, the wife of Shafiqul’s brother Sharif.

After post-mortem examination, the doctors said the victims had been strangled after being hit on the head.

On Thursday, Mahfuz made a confessional statement in the court of Narayanganj Senior Judicial Magistrate Saiduzzaman Sharif.

Narayanganj Superintendent of Police Khandaker Mohid Uddin later said at a news conference that  Mahfuz, son of Shafiqul’s sister Asia Begum, tried to physically harass Lamia, members of the extended family alleged.

Shafiqul named him in the case, mentioning that Mahfuz was beaten up in a family arbitration recently for his indecent proposals to Lamia.

SP Uddin said, “Mahfuz developed a relationship with Lamia. Sharif moved to Narayanganj from Dhaka for this reason.”

He said Mahfuz planned the murder following the arbitration.

He hid under Lamia’s bed on the night of the murder, the SP said, referring to the confessional statement.

Morshed rebuked Mahfuz and took him to his room when he found him.

“Mahfuz hit Morshed on his head with the grinding stone at around 3am when he was asleep. He then killed his aunts Taslima and Lamia, and cousin Sumaiya. He killed Shanto by strangling him after pushing his head hard on a wall at around 7am,” the police official said.

“He later went to his workplace after locking the door from outside,” he added.

The bodies were recovered later in the night.