Four of a family doped, house looted

A newly appointed housemaid allegedly doped four members of a family and made away with valuables worth around Tk 5 lakh from a house at Khalisadah village in Kumarkhali upazila under the district early yesterday.

The victims, Shahidul Islam, 62, his wife Sabina Akter, 56, and their daughters--Rubi Akter, 28, and Shimu Akter, 30, are now undergoing treatment at Kushtia General Hospital.

Quoting local people, police said the four took their meal served by housemaid Sima Khatun around 10:30pm on Sunday night and went to sleep.

The following morning, neighbours found them unconscious and Sima missing. They took the four to the hospital and informed the police, said, Mohibul Islam, officer-in-charge of Kumarkhali Police Station.

Police suspect that Sima, who had been working at the house for nearly three months, might have doped the four people and fled away with the valuables, including, television, laptop, mobile phone sets and cash.

Dr Taposh Kumar, resident medical officer of Kushtia General Hospital, said the victims might have been fed high-powered sedatives.