The Murders of Mahfuzur Rahman and Swapna Rahman

On August 16, 2013, Special Branch police inspector Mahfuzur Rahman and his wife, Swapna Rahman, were found dead at their residence in Chamelibagh, Dhaka. Their daughter Oishee Rahman later surrendered to police. The case became one of Bangladesh's most closely watched family-murder prosecutions and ultimately produced a conviction followed by significant appellate review of the sentence.

The investigation

Mahfuzur's brother filed a murder case at Paltan Police Station after the bodies were discovered. Police later submitted charge sheets against Oishee and others. According to the prosecution's charge-sheet theory reported at the time, Oishee was alleged to have carried out the killings herself, while other accused were alleged to have played supporting roles after or around the offense.

Oishee made a confession during the investigation but later retracted it and alleged that it had been obtained under pressure. The conviction is therefore described here as a court judgment, not as something established simply because a confession existed. The proceedings considered other evidence as well.

Trial verdict

On November 12, 2015, a Dhaka court convicted Oishee of murdering both parents and sentenced her to death. The trial court also dealt separately with the roles of other accused: one associate received a prison term and another was acquitted. A house helper who was under 18 was proceeded against separately under the juvenile system.

This page does not merge those different defendants into a single finding of equal responsibility. The central adjudicated homicide conviction discussed here is Oishee's conviction for the deaths of Mahfuzur Rahman and Swapna Rahman.

High Court commutes the death sentence

On June 5, 2017, the High Court upheld the conviction but commuted Oishee's death sentence to life imprisonment. In the full judgment, the court cited several mitigating circumstances, including her age at the time, mental-health evidence, absence of a prior significant criminal record and her surrender to police.

The High Court's ruling did not acquit Oishee and did not erase the double-murder conviction. It changed the punishment from death to life imprisonment.

Supreme Court proceedings

The state sought to challenge the reduction of the sentence. On March 15, 2021, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court dismissed the state's leave-to-appeal petition challenging the life term. The same order permitted Oishee to seek leave to appeal against her own life sentence.

A review of reliable Bangladesh reporting through September 2, 2026 did not locate a later merits judgment overturning the conviction or the life sentence. The legally careful description is therefore that the documented life sentence remained in place after the state's challenge failed, while the 2021 order expressly left Oishee an avenue to seek further review.

Timeline

1. August 16, 2013
   Mahfuzur and Swapna are found dead

   The couple are discovered murdered at their Chamelibagh residence in Dhaka.

2. August 2013
   Oishee surrenders

   Oishee Rahman turns herself in to police; investigators later file charges against her and other accused.

3. November 12, 2015
   Trial conviction

   A Dhaka court convicts Oishee of murdering both parents and imposes the death penalty.

4. June 5, 2017
   High Court reduces sentence

   The conviction remains, but the death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.

5. March 15, 2021
   State's challenge rejected

   The Appellate Division dismisses the state's attempt to challenge the life sentence and permits Oishee to seek leave to appeal against the life term herself.

Current status

Solved / adjudicated. Oishee Rahman was convicted of murdering Mahfuzur Rahman and Swapna Rahman. The High Court reduced her punishment to life imprisonment in 2017, and the Appellate Division rejected the state's challenge to that reduction in 2021. This dossier does not claim that every possible defense-side appellate avenue was exhausted.