Khulna brick kiln contractor Habibur Rahman Sobuj was murdered for his extramarital affair with the wife of one of the suspects, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has discovered.
Two men, identified as Asaduzzaman and Anupam, divulged the information in preliminary interrogation following their arrest on Monday, said RAB 6 Special Company Commander, Maj Md Shamim.
“Embezzlement allegations against Sobuj may also have played a role in Sobuj’s murder. We found hints of both these motives,” he said.
Quoting the arrested, Maj Shamim added that a total of five people, including one Mostofa, were involved in the killing of Sobuj, 26.
Sobuj had an extramarital affair with Mostofa’s wife and that led to the former’s murder, said the RAB official.
Police recovered parts of Sobuj's body, wrapped in polythene, from Sher-e-Bangla Road in Khulna city, around 10:30am last Thursday. His head and arms were recovered later in the day from a drain on Farazipara Lane.
RAB arrested Asaduzzaman from Fakirhat’s Fulbari Gate area and Anupam from Batiaghata in the early hours of Monday.
They also recovered the remaining body parts of Sobuj later from Asaduzzaman's residence on Farazipara Lane.
RAB official Shamim said Sobuj was arrested in an embezzlement case and sent to jail, where he met Mostofa and the four others.
He said: “After he got out of jail on bail, Sobuj helped Mostofa to secure bail. During that time, Sobuj became intimate with Mostofa’s wife.
“After Mostofa was released on bail, he found out about their extramarital affair and planned Sobuj’s murder with the four others.”
However, sources said, police were also investigating whether the embezzlement angle played any role in Sobuj’s murder.
Sobuj’s father, Abdul Hamid Sardar, said his son went missing on March 5 after he went to Khulna. When he called Sobuj’s acquaintance Sadi on March 7 looking for his son, Sadi told him that Sobuj went to Jessore with Mostofa.
Hamid filed a general diary when Sobuj did not come home by March 7 evening. “I think my son has been killed over money transactions related to his business,” he said.
Meanwhile, after an autopsy, seven parts of Sobuj's body were handed over to his family on Saturday.
His brother-in-law, Md Golam Mostofa, also lodged a case the same day for the murder at Khulna police station.