Four months on, Raipur's Junaid still does not know why his mother and three sisters were killed

'Justice is a far cry — four months have passed, and I still have not learned why my mother and three sisters were killed.' Junaid Islam, also known as Sifat (18), of Raipur in Lakshmipur, breaks down repeatedly as he says this. Having lost his mother and sisters, he now spends his days alone.

On 25 June, Junaid's mother Shahinur Begum (40) and his three sisters — Saima Akter (21), Nafisa Akter, also known as Ikra (17), and Fatema Akter, also known as Sifa (10) — were brutally murdered in a rented house in the Dhanahata area of Raipur municipality. Junaid is now the family's only surviving member.

After losing his relatives, he is living in a neighbouring house. To earn a living he has taken a job at a local rod-and-cement shop. He spends most of the day at the shop, but when he returns home at night the old memories come flooding back; moments spent with his mother and sisters haunt him.

In Junaid's words, staying busy with work during the day helps time pass somewhat. But at night, back home, the emptiness feels greater. Even when he tries to sleep, the faces of his mother and sisters float before his eyes; he cannot accept the reality that he will never see them again.

Alongside grief, the frustration of not knowing the motive for the killings is eating away at him. Junaid wants every aspect of the incident examined so the real mystery is uncovered. His question: did the accused, Antar Majumdar, carry out the murders alone, or was someone else involved behind it?

On the day of the incident, the attacker entered the house and hacked the four to death with a sharp weapon. As he fled afterwards, local people caught a young man named Antar Majumdar (28) and beat him in a mob attack. He later died while undergoing treatment at Lakshmipur Sadar Hospital. His home is in Subarnachar Upazila of Noakhali.

The next day, after the funeral prayers in the Dhanahata area, the four victims were buried at their village home in Homna, Cumilla. Junaid filed a murder case with Raipur Police Station over the incident. Separately, police filed another murder case as complainant over Antar Majumdar's death in the mob beating.

According to police, investigators are examining whether the killings were linked to a romantic dispute, money transactions, looting of gold ornaments, or personal enmity. So far, none of these possibilities has been confirmed.

A search of the house at the scene found some gold ornaments and cash intact. For that reason, police cannot conclude that the murders were committed solely for the purpose of looting.

The family's two mobile phones were not found in the house. They were later recovered from the place where Antar was beaten by the mob. Whether he had taken them from the house is also under investigation. Investigators say they checked whether Antar had been in regular phone contact with the family members, but found no evidence of regular contact.

Inspector (Investigation) Abdul Mannan of Raipur Police Station is investigating both cases. He said the cases are being investigated with importance, moving forward by analysing witness evidence, materials collected from the scene, and forensic and technological data. Raipur Police Station's Officer-in-Charge Nizam Uddin Bhuiyan said every aspect of this much-discussed murder is being carefully verified, and police are working to uncover the real mystery.