The murder of ex-PDB chairman Khijir Khan in Dhaka earlier this week was the climax of an hour-long drama that the killers had staged to destroy evidence and lead investigation astray.
Based on the first information report (FIR) of the murder case and talking to witnesses, the Dhaka Tribune has concluded that the entire killing mission lasted for about an hour during which the killers created the atmosphere so that neighbours do not suspect anything.
The killers – who were probably six in number – entered the premises of Khijir’s house around 6:45pm. The autopsy report says he was killed sometime between 7pm and 8pm.
Plaintiff of the murder case Ashraful Islam alias Ahmedullah, younger son of Khijir, said that first he saw two people ring the calling bell of the khanqah sharif, the place on the first floor of the six-storey building where his father used to discuss religious matters with followers.
Ahmedullah, who is a second year medical student, was going out of the house at that time to attend some personal matters. By the time he reached the ground floor, he saw four more people entering the building.
Since his father was a pir – a spiritual leader – visitors were normal and so it did not raise any alarm for him. The next time he heard from home was a phone call from his mother around 8:20pm when she told him about the murder of his father.
From these, investigators have deduced that the killers might have stayed inside the building for about an hour.
It was not that the killers had pounced on Khijir right after entering the premises. They first got themselves seated in the khankaq sharif and Khijir came down by a private staircase from his residence, which is located a floor above.
Soon they got engaged in a discussion in which they asked Khijir whether they could rent the ground floor of his building.
There was nobody else in the khankaq sharif and suddenly the killers got hold of Khijir and tied his limbs and shoved a piece of cloth in his mouth so that he could not shout.
Khijir’s domestic help Amena, a 30-year-old woman, was cleaning the adjacent toilet, but the killers did not know that. When she entered the khankaq sharif, she saw the situation of her boss and started screaming. Then the killers took hold of her as well and tied her limbs and shut her mouth too.
Hearing her scream, Khijir’s wife was coming down the private staircase but some of the killers pushed her back up. Then they tied up the six others, including Khijir’s wife, who were present in that floor – Khijir’s two daughters, two granddaughters and their chauffeur.
They brought some small pieces of cloth, which they shoved in their mouths so that they could not scream.
In the meantime, those on the floor below started moving some of the furniture around so that the neighbours do not get suspicious. They also kept the ceiling fans open so that everything seem normal from the outside.
Then, according to police, the killers slaughtered Khijir with a local machete – the kind that is used during Eid-ul-Azha for slaughtering sacrificial animals.
Interestingly, one of the evidences that police have recovered from the crime scene was a machete of that kind but it was very clean and did not have a single drop of blood on it.
There are two more pieces of evidence which police believe were left there to confuse investigators: a brand new clean gamcha – a local towel – and some locks of hair – which is particularly confusing because they did not belong to the victim.
Therefore, investigators can now not say for certain that the machete they had recovered was the murder weapon.
Investigation Officer Aminul Islam, also sub-inspector of Badda police, said: “We believe the killers did all these to lead the investigation astray.”
Police’s Detective Branch is assisting the investigators by running a shadow probe into the murder.
Mahfuzul Islam, additional deputy commissioner of DB, said yesterday: “We have said before that the killers took advantage of the security weakness of the building.”
He also said: “We are giving importance to the involvement of militants but have yet to make any progress.”