http://www.dailystarnews.com/200303/10/n3031001.htm#BODY1

Picture (Courtesy The Daily Janakantha): From left, the two destitute gang rape Hindu housewife, middle, dead body of Tapan surrounded by the villagers and on the right seriously injured Swapan Bhttacherjee and family members. Click on the picture for janakantha  report in Bengali. 

Picture (courtesy Prothom Alo)
Click on the picture to read Bengali Report from "The Daily Prothom Alo"

Unidentified men chopped to death a farmer and raped three members of his family including his wife and sister-in-law late Saturday night at Korompur village of Jatrapur union in Bagerhat Sadar thana.

Tapan Bhattacharya, 43, who also worked in a BISIC bee project, sustained countless cuts and wounds before he died. The killers reportedly targeted Tapan's elder brother Niranjan Bhattacharya. Tapan's body was sent to the hospital morgue for an autopsy.

A gang of more than 10 men entered the house at 3:00am, raped Tapan's wife, aged 34, his younger brother's wife, aged 28, and her mother whose age could not be known immediately. Swapan Bhattacharya, 35, the younger brother and a police constable of Rupsha Police Station, was severely injured in the incident and admitted to the Khulna Medical College Hospital (KMCH).
The wives of Tapan and Swapan were also admitted to the hospital. The condition of Tapan's wife was said to be critical as she delivered a stillborn child only 10 days ago. The rapists left her bleeding profusely.

Police said the motive behind the killing was the rivalry over the local Union Parishad election. They arrested one Abdur Rahman, 35, a member candidate who lost the election, in connection with the incident.

"During my career as a policeman, I have never seen such brutality," said Ishak Dukhu, officer-in-charge (OC) of the Bagerhat Sadar Police Station. A case of murder and robbery has been filed with the police station. However, a rape case is yet to be filed, said the OC, adding, "It is now under process and the police high officials are looking into the whole matter."

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is investigating the matter under the supervision of the Home Ministry Monitoring Cell. Many high officials including Additional Inspector General of CID police Ashraful Huda went to the spot yesterday.

According to Swapan and police, at least 10 armed men entered their house at around 3:00am through the kitchen. Hearing the footsteps, Tapan's wife woke her husband up and Tapan went to the kitchen to see if there was any intruder. When he opened the kitchen door, the killers attacked him with sharp weapons and slashed him all over. The gang also held hostage other members of the family.

When Tapan fell on the ground bleeding profusely, one of the killers said to the terrified family members showing a bundle of Tk 500 notes, "See we came here to collect the head of Niranjan in exchange for one lakh taka. Since we haven't found Niranjan, we 'legitimised' this money by killing his younger brother. We are not leaving until he dies."

They then dragged the three women to another room and raped them in turn. "They confined me inside a room with my mouth tied with a piece of cloth and raped the women," said Swapan at the KMCH.

The killers left the house left the house after two hours. They looted some valuables including gold ornaments and money. The family members recovered Tapan's body lying in a pool of blood.

Swapan said before leaving the killers asked him to pay Tk 1 lakh to a 'killer' named Kamrul at the second culvert point on the Rupsha Chanmari Road.
During the incident, the neighbours heard screams and cries for help, but dared not to come to their rescue.

Police said the alleged gangsters could not be identified as they were wearing black masks.

Niranjan's wife said she and her husband were staying at her parent's house that night. She returned home in the morning hearing about the murder and rape. "Terrorists have been threatening us since the parliament election for voting an Awami League candidate," she said.

Sources said that Niranjan was a leader of the Hindu community in the locality and that he became a target of some political activists since the parliament election. He was being threatened regularly following the recently concluded UP election.