Mother, two daughters found dead

Police recovered the bodies of a mother and her two daughters from a government quarters near Mirpur Bangla College in the capital yesterday evening.

Jesmin Akhtar, 35, her daughters Adila Tahsin Hani, 4, and Hasiba Tasnim Himi, 9, used to live on the third floor of the building, Assistant Commissioner Md Jahingir Alam of Darussalam zone told The Daily Star.

The bodies of the two girls had stab marks, he said.

Jesmin's husband Hasibul Islam and her brother broke open the door of the home and found the bodies lying on the floor in pools of blood around 5:30pm, the AC said.

Jasmine used to work at Department of Agriculture Extension in Khamarbari.

Police suspect the mother might have killed her two daughters before killing herself.

Shaikh Nazmul Alam, joint commissioner (crime) of the DMP, told reporters at the spot that primarily the police do not think any outsiders were involved in the incident.

“Jesmin was mentally ill and had attempted to kill her children before by making them take an overdose of sleeping pills,” he said, adding that a knife was recovered from the spot.

Jesmin's brother Shahinul Islam, cousin Juthi and Hasibul's nephew Rawshan Jamil, his wife Rumana Begum and their daughter also lived with the family in the flat.

Rumana told The Daily Star that Jesmin returned home from work around 2:00pm and she saw Jesmin feeding her children in the bed room around 3:00pm.

She later saw the door of the bedroom closed. Around 5:00pm, Hasibul returned home and knocked on the door but no one opened.

Hasibul then went to the mosque for Asar and Maghrib prayers. In the meantime, Jesmin's brother Shahinul came home around 6:00pm and tried to open the door but could not.

Hasibul and Shahinul broke the door and found the bodies. They saw Jesmin lying on the floor while the two kids were on the bed.

Shahinul told The Daily Star his sister was depressed for a long time and her condition deteriorated recently. “She [Jesmin] took a lot of sleeping pills a month ago and was treated in a hospital. She was being treated for depression.”