SP wife murder: Police informant hired killers

The assailants who carried out the fatal attack on Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, wife of Superintendent of Police Babul Akter, were hired by an active police informant named Abu Musa, said Wasim and Anwar, two of the murderers. The exact motive behind the gruesome murder is still unknown, police said. Musa's name came up in the confessional statements that Wasim and Anwar gave before the court of Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate Harun-ur-Rashid on Sunday. In their statements, the duo said a total of seven people were directly involved in the murder, including themselves. The other five are: Musa, Nabi, Rashed, Kalu and Shahjahan. But it was Musa, Wasim and Nabi who attacked Mitu on the morning of June 5, a court source quoted the confessing suspects. The detainees also said two firearms were used in the attack, supplied by a man named Ehteshamul Haque Bhola. A top official at the CMP, requesting anonymity, said Bhola is a leader of Swechchhasebak League in Chittagong, but refused to give further details for the sake of the ongoing investigation. Earlier on Sunday, Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) Commissioner Md Iqbal Bahar at a press briefing said police have identified all the killers of Mitu and had arrested two of the trio who directly took part in the murder. He said all of the killers were professional. The arrested duo, Wasim and Anwar, were detained at Rangunia upazila in Chittagong. CMP Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operation) Debdas Bhattacharia told the Dhaka Tribune that police have gathered all information relevant to Mitu's murder and are currently conducting a drive to arrest the rest of the killers. Police also said they had not found any involvement of Abu Nosor Gunnu and Shah Zaman Robin – who were the first and second arrests in the case – in Mitu's murder. They are now in prison following the completion of their seven-day remand.

The killers did not know who Mitu was

Wasim and Anwar told the court that they were not aware of Mitu's identity when they were hired by Musa for the killing mission. The court source said the duo came to know that Mitu was the wife of SP Babul from news reports. Describing their mission, both Wasim and Anwar said Musa, who was seen in the CCTV footage driving the motorcycle they fled on after the murder, held Mitu's six-year-old son back while Nabi stabbed her indiscriminately both in her back and front. Anwar said he was in charge of scouting the area where the murder took place and he was with the other two as a back-up. He said after Nabi stabbed Mitu, Wasim, who was carrying the firearms, shot her. But Wasim said Musa snatched away a firearm from him and shot Mitu himself. After the mission, Musa paid Tk2,000-2,500 to each of the killers, the duo told the court. Earlier, the CMP commissioner said Wasim had shot Mitu. Anwar and Wasim said they did not know why Musa wanted to kill Mitu. After their confession was recorded, they were taken back to prison. Mitu, 32, was stabbed and shot dead by three men in GEC intersection area in the port city when she took her son to his school bus on June 5, the same day her husband was supposed to report at the Police Headquarters as the newly promoted SP. Babul filed a case against three unidentified persons and their cohorts with Panchlaish police station the next day. No local or international militant group has claimed responsibility for the murder, but the investigators suspect that members of Chittagong-based militant outfits, especially Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, or other vested groups may have conducted the murder to avenge the crackdowns led by Babul when he was in the Detective Branch of police.