Bachchu Miah, one of the accused in the killing of four children in Habiganj district on February 12, was killed in an alleged gunfight with the members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) in Chunarughat upazila of the district early yesterday
Rab 9 Srimangal camp commanding officer Kazi Maniruzzaman Monir said on a tip-off, a team of elite force conducted a drive at Deorgach village around 4:30 am when Bachchu was trying to flee into India through Deorgach border point.
Sensing the presence of the team, Bachchu along with his accomplices opened fire to police, forcing them to fire back.
Bachchu was caught in the line of fire and dead on the spot.
They also arrested Bachchu’s accomplice Shahed from the spot.
A total of seven people have so far been arrested in connection with the gruesome murder of the four schoolboys.
Earlier, the Judicial Magistrate Court recoded depositions of three of the seven arrestees in the case.
Shahidul Islam, additional superintendent of police said Arju in his statement disclosed the name of another perpetrator of the killing. Arju also revealed that 8-9 people had involvement in the murder, he added.
According to previous reports, police recovered the bodies of four children, aged between seven and ten, from a ditch at Shundratiki village under Bahubol upazila of the district on February 17, five days after they went missing.
Bahubol police detained Abdul Ali, 50, and his son Jewel Mia, 30, around 8:30pm from local Rashidpur Bazar for their suspected involvement in the murders.
The district police authorities earlier in the day declared a reward of Tk1 lakh for giving information to trace the criminals.
The deceased were Monir Miah, 7, son of Abdal Miah; Jakaria Ahmed Shuvo, 8, son of Md Wahid Miah; Tajel Miah, 10, son of Abdul Aziz; and Ismail Hossain, 10, son of Abdul Kader. Jakaria, Tajel and Monir’s fathers are cousins while Ismail was their neighbour.
Of the victims, Monir was a student of class I at Shundratiki Primary School, Jakaria of class II and Tajel of class IV. Ismail was a student of Shundratiki Madrasa.
Bahubol model police station OC Mosharraf Hossain confirmed the identity of the children. The children were strangled to death, the post-mortem examination reports say.
DIG Mizanur Rahman visited the crime scene in the afternoon and assured the victims’ families of ensuring justice. Later, he made the declaration of Tk1 lakh reward.
Superintendent of Police Joydeb Kumar Bhadra declared a bounty of Tk20,000 for any information regarding the missing children.
The families claimed that the OC had not taken the matter seriously when they wanted to file a general diary after the abduction.
They alleged that their neighbours Abdul Ali and Bachchu Mia could be behind the abduction and murder of the children over previous enmity. Monir’s mother claimed that the murders were premeditated.