It was Humayun Kabir Hira who had leased a piece of land for Hoshi Kunio to raise a grass farm without informing the owner about the Japanese researcher.
The 0.8 hectare land at Kachu Alutari village in Kaunia of Rangpur is owned by Shah Alam’s brother Shajahan Mia. Alam managed the land for Hira for Tk82,000.
The farm turned fruitful as Hoshi said growth of the grass was faster than expected.
Police arrested Rashidunnabi Khan Biplob and Hira in the case and are interrogating them in custody. Sources said that the police had suspected Hira for three reasons, especially for his possible benefits after the murder of Hoshi.
The Japanese citizen, 65, was shot dead on his way to the grass farm on October 3 by unidentified assailants.
Shah Alam told the Dhaka Tribune: “Hira leased some of our land previously for fish farming. So when he requested for a piece of land to cultivate grass I helped him.
“We were in dark about the Japanese. Had Hira informed us that the farm belonged to the Japanese, we would not have signed the agreement without the presence and signature of Hoshi.”
Alam said that he had never seen Hoshi and though that he had been a friend of Hira.
Two bankers detained
Meanwhile, the law enforcers have detained two Brac Bank officials from Rajshahi and took them to Rangpur.
So far, the police have detained eight persons in the case. Of them, two were shown arrested while the others kept in police custody.
The Detective Branch of Rangpur police in cooperation with Rajshahi police detained the duo on Thursday night. They are Mohammad Sultan Nahid, sales and service officer of the bank, and HM Shahriar, credit card officer.
DB Sub-Inspector Azahar Ali said: “A total of four Brac bank officials were detained on Thursday night. The Rangpur police informed us that they were detained over Hoshi murder case.”
Two of them were released after questioning while Nahid and Shahriar taken to Rangpur.