Rangpur murder suspects test negative for drugs, raising questions over police claim

The dope tests of Siddhartha Das and Mugdha Das, arrested over the murder of four members of a Rangpur family, found no traces of drugs, despite police earlier saying the suspects had taken yaba before the killings.

The urine samples of the two suspects were collected inside Rangpur Central Jail on Sunday and tested at Rangpur Medical College Hospital. 

The Rangpur Metropolitan DB police received the reports on Monday afternoon.

DB Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanatan Chakraborty said the reports showed no traces of drugs in either suspect’s body.

He, however, pointed out that the samples were tested eight days after the killings, making it unlikely that drugs consumed earlier would still be detectable through urine. 

According to him, such substances may have been detected had the tests been conducted within two or three days.

The medical college hospital currently conducts dope tests using urine samples and does not have facilities to test hair or blood for drugs, the police official said.

The negative reports come despite police previously claiming that Siddhartha and Mugdha had taken drugs before killing the four family members. 

The suspects also reportedly told a court that they had taken eight to nine yaba tablets before the killings.

Asked whether the negative dope tests conflicted with those statements, Sanatan said the investigation was still underway and that police would take necessary measures at a later stage.

Police collected the samples inside the jail because taking the suspects outside could have created a risk of attack or mob violence, officials said.

Siddhartha and Mugdha are currently in Rangpur Central Jail after giving confessional statements before a court under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The two were arrested after the bodies of retired Rangpur Zilla School teacher Ganapati Chakraborty, his wife and their two children were recovered from their home in Machuapara on August 22. 

Police had said the family was killed after objecting to the suspects’ drug use.