Ashulia triple murder: How a stolen ring led to the arrest of killers

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested a couple in connection with the brutal murder of three family members, including a woman and her child, in Dhaka's Ashulia.

The couple, identified as Sagar Ali, 31, and his wife Ishita Begum, 25, were arrested from Shafipur area in Gazipur, according to an official statement released by RAB.

During the raid, a crucial piece of evidence—a ring belonging to one of the victims—was seized, leading to a breakthrough in the case.

"Members of RAB-4 during a raid at Gazipur's  Shafipur area arrested Sagar Ali and his wife Ishita Begum, the mastermind behind the brutal murder of three members of the same family in Dhaka's Ashulia," reads the statement.

The tragic incident unfolded when the bodies of three family members were discovered in a flat within a multi-storey building in Dhaka's Ashulia on the night of 30 September.

The victims were identified as Babul Hossain, 42; his wife Mst Shahida, 40 and her son Mehdi Hasan, 12. Both Babul Hossain and his wife Shahida were garment workers by profession. Their child Mehdi Hasan is a student of a local kindergarten school.

"All three victims were members of the same family. The miscreants apparently killed them by slitting their throats 2-3 days ago. Bodies have been recovered, and the matter is being investigated," Ashulia police station Sub-Inspector (SI) Johab Ali told The Business Standard.

Initial investigations have unveiled that the motive behind the murders was rooted in greed and was driven by anger over not obtaining the expected sum of money.

The RAB press briefing, held at the media centre in Karwan Bazar on Tuesday (October 3), shed light on the sequence of events leading to the tragic incident.

It was revealed that Sagar Ali, the main culprit, overheard Babul Hossain expressing his dissatisfaction with the homoeopathy and herbal treatments he received recently. Seizing this opportunity, Sagar duped Babul into believing that his wife, Ishita Begum, was highly successful in the field and convinced him of a treatment worth Tk90,000.

On 29 September, the couple visited Babul's residence, where they served a potion laced with sleeping pills to render the entire family unconscious. In a horrifying turn of events, the murderers searched the house for valuables but found only Tk5000. Enraged by the meagre amount, they proceeded to kill Babul first, and later his wife and son, who were still unconscious in another room. The victims were brutally stabbed to death with a Boti.

RAB identified Sagar Ali to be a drug addict with a criminal history. In 2020, he committed a similar heinous act, killing four members of a family in Madhupur, Tangail, for only Tk200.

He was arrested by RAB-12 in connection with that case, serving approximately three and a half years in prison. After being granted bail in June 2023, he resumed a transient criminal lifestyle, moving across districts and engaging in theft and robbery under various disguises.

Shock and distress have gripped the Jamgara Fakirbari Mor area of Ashulia ever since the revelation of the triple murder incident.

According to the police and locals, as stench came from the flat in the evening, the neighbours knocked on the door and found the door open. Later, they saw the dead bodies of the mother and son in the bedroom inside the flat and informed the owner of the house and the police.

Along with the police, members of the police intelligence wing, RAB, and CID, collected evidence from the crime scene.

Dhaka District Police Superintendent Md Asaduzzaman visited the site on Saturday night along with other high-ranking police officers.

He assured the public that the perpetrators would be swiftly brought to justice, emphasising a thorough inquiry to unravel the mystery behind the heinous act.