Police recovered the bodies of four members of a family from a locked three-storey house in the Machuapara area of Kamalkachna in Rangpur city on Saturday night, raising suspicions of a planned killing.

The deceased were identified as retired Rangpur Zilla School accounting teacher Ganapati Chakraborty Jewel, 65, his wife Pritilata Chakraborty, 50, daughter Agami Chakraborty, 25, and son Ayush Chakraborty, 12. Different sources have reported variations in the spellings of the names.

The bodies were recovered from the house under Kotwali police station after relatives,unable to contact the family for several days, informed police. The bodies were later sent to the Rangpur Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.

According to local residents and relatives, the main gate of the house had remained locked for two to three days. Family members repeatedly tried to contact them by phone but received no response.

Puja Chakraborty, younger sister of Pritilata, said she spoke to her elder sister and niece Agami for about 10 minutes at around 11:26pm on Thursday. At around 2:40am, she received a call from her sister's mobile phone but could not answer it. She said she could not contact anyone from the family on Friday.

On Saturday evening, after finding the family members' mobile phones switched off, Puja went to their house at around 8:45pm. She found the main gate locked and received no response despite repeatedly pressing the doorbell.

She then looked inside through a window from an adjacent building and noticed household items scattered around. She subsequently informed police.

Police entered the house after breaking the lock. Ayush's body was found beside a bed in a room on the second floor. The bodies of Pritilata and Agami were found on the staircase, while Ganapati's body was recovered from the rooftop on the third floor.

Police said, during their initial observation, cloth, rope and a towel-like piece of fabric were found wrapped around the necks of the four victims. As the bodies had apparently remained inside the house for several days, they had begun to decompose, causing a strong stench throughout the building.

Assistant Superintendent of Police of Rangpur CID Sumit Chowdhury said the faces of the four victims appeared to have been partially burned. Investigators were examining whether any chemical substance had been applied to their faces.

He said police were initially suspecting that the victims might have been strangled or suffocated to death, although the exact cause of death would be clear after autopsy.

Several cupboards and drawers in the house were found open, while clothes and other belongings were scattered across some rooms. This initially raised the possibility of robbery or theft.

However, investigators found that no cupboard or drawer appeared to have been forcibly broken open. Rather, they might have been opened using keys. Television sets, a laptop and mobile phones were also found in the house and had not been taken away.

This has led investigators to question whether the killings were actually committed during a robbery or theft.

Malati Chakraborty, a cousin of Ganapati, described the incident as a planned murder. She said the family had no known dispute or enmity with anyone.

Puja Chakraborty also expressed anger over the deaths and said her sister, brother-in-law and their two children had done nothing wrong. She said she was unaware of any enemies the family had and demanded that those responsible be identified and brought to justice quickly.

CID ASP Sumit Chowdhury said investigators were examining whether the killers had remained inside the house for a considerable period or had entered with the intention of committing robbery before killing the family members. Other possible motives were also being investigated, he said.

Police suspect that the four may have been killed sometime late Thursday night. However, the exact time of death has not yet been established.

Police and Rapid Action Battalion members cordoned off the house after the incident and collected various samples and other forensic evidence from the scene.

Investigators are examining the circumstances surrounding the deaths, mobile phone records, possible personal or family disputes, and the possibility of theft or robbery. Police said the autopsy report would help establish the exact cause of death.

The house is located in a densely populated part of the city. A three-storey building under construction stands beside it, and there was a way to move between the two buildings.

Neighbours described Ganapati, Pritilata and their two children as quiet and friendly. They said they were unaware of any major dispute or quarrel involving the family.

Neighbours said Ganapati had been seen walking with his wife on Thursday, while his son Ayush had also been seen playing in a nearby field that day.

Former colleagues and neighbours of Ganapati expressed shock at the incident. Mahbuba Akter, who came to the scene after learning about Agami's death, described her as friendly and kind-hearted.

Ganapati's ancestral home is in Mirzapur village of Mirzapur Union in Mithapukur upazila of Rangpur. He had worked as an accounting teacher at Rangpur Zilla School before retiring. In his retirement, he was also involved in homeopathic treatment.

He purchased land in the Machuapara area around 2010 and began constructing the three-storey building several years ago. Parts of the building were still under construction.

His daughter Agami had completed her master's degree in English from Carmichael College in Rangpur. His 12-year-old son Ayush was a Class Five student at Rangpur Zilla School.

The deaths have shocked the local community, while investigators are now trying to determine who was behind the killings and what motive lay behind the deaths of the four family members.