A man allegedly growing disenchanted with his family’s perceived lack of religiosity, a recluse who immersed himself in religious literature and a “Rohingya sympathiser” who was allegedly making plans to escape to Myanmar. That’s the picture that the police are painting of Humayun Kabir, a 35-year-old unemployed civil engineer who was arrested last month on charges of allegedly killing his parents in Memari in Purba Bardhaman.

On May 28, Kabir, a graduate of Jadavpur University, allegedly killed his parents Haji Mustafizur Rahman, 65, and his wife Mumtaz Begum, 56, in Memari town’s Kashiara More area. Then he fled to the Bongaon town – some 107 km away — where he allegedly used a machete to attack staff members of an orphanage. He was arrested on May 29 and is currently in judicial custody at Presidency jail.

Kabir, whose father owned a thriving gift shop in Memari and whose family held significant agricultural land, completed his civil engineering degree at Jadavpur University in 2012 and worked in Mumbai, Delhi, and Noida.

According to investigators, it was his divorce about six years ago that triggered a shift in his personality, making him increasingly reserved and cut off from the world. Somewhere along the line, he also lost his job.

“Earlier this year, he vanished for several months. His father eventually traced him to Himachal Pradesh and brought him back to Memari,” one investigator said.

The change in him began manifesting in other forms too: over the next few months, Kabir allegedly immersed himself in religious texts, with investigators claiming that he had begun to browse “jihadi literature”.

His laptop, mobile, and personal effects are currently under intense scrutiny. It was during this time that he had begun to express dissatisfaction with what he perceived as a lack of religiosity in his parents.

“He wanted his parents to see Jannat [heaven],” another officer said.

Soon, he allegedly began to plot their killings. On May 28, he executed his plan — first allegedly slitting his father Mustafizul’s wrists and then, when his mother woke up to his screams, killing her too.

Kabir allegedly travelled to Ranaghat and a train to Bongaon – a place, according to investigators, located six kilometres from the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Here, however, his plan went awry, with his attack on four others at a local orphanage leading to his arrest.