Police have arrested three persons, including an assistant engineer, for their alleged involvement in the murder of Delwar Hossain, an executive engineer of Gazipur City Corporation (GCC).
The arrestees are GCC Assistant Engineer Anisur Rahman Selim, his associate Shahin, and Habib, who was the driver of the microbus used during murder.
The men were arrested separately from Kafrul, Pallabi and Vatara of Dhaka on Wednesday.
Nabid Kamal Shaibal, deputy commissioner (Uttara Division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), revealed the arrests at a press briefing on Thursday evening.
He said that the murder of Delwar Hossain was a pre-planned affair. Police suspect that it was a consequence of previous animosity. However, he could not clarify the exact motive behind the murder.
Shahin and Habib made confessional statements in court on Thursday. The court granted a five-day remand for Selim to be questioned by the police, Nabid added.
Police were still investigating the matter and searching for anyone else’s involvement in the murder, said Nabid.
Police recovered Delwar’s body on the morning of May 12 from Beribadh area under Turag police station.
The deceased was executive engineer of Konabari zone of Gazipur City Corporation. Later, his wife filed a case with Turag police station.
Describing the incident, DMP Additional Deputy Commissioner (Uttara zone) Kamruzzaman Sardar said assistant engineer Selim was the main perpetrator of the crime as he had planned the murder of Delwar. He hired killer Shahin and driver Habib to do the deed.
In their conversations with some of the officials at the GCC office, the police learned that Selim had contacted the GCC office to have the arrangements for the vehicle designated by the office to transport Delwar cancelled, Nabid added.
Habib, GCC Assistant Engineer Anisur Rahman Selim's assistant | Dhaka Tribune
On the day of the incident, Selim wore a PPE and his associates waited in a hired microbus in front of Delwar’s house. Later, Selim called Delwar from a rickshaw puller’s mobile phone number to tell Delwar that his transport from the office had arrived. When Delwar got into the microbus, Selim sat beside him and Shahin sat behind him, he further added.
Kamruzzaman said Shahin strangled Delwar to death by choking his neck with a rope from behind when the vehicle started to move, while Selim grabbed his leg.
Later, they dumped the body in Uttara’s sector number-17 and threw his mobile phone beside a lake. Police seized the microbus and recovered Delwar’s mobile phone, the police official said.
Earlier, Delwar's wife Khadiza Akhter said some contractors were angry at her husband for not allowing them to have their way with projects. They were also backed by some local councillors, she alleged.
She alleged that a GCC office assistant named Selim had been openly opposing her husband, and had ties to the corrupt contractors who tried to bribe Delwar.
“Delwar faced many problems for being an honest officer and that is why the corrupt group of contractors had him killed. We are now living every moment in fear,” Khadiza said.
She also alleged that almost all employees in Delwar’s office were in the pockets of these contractors.
“Several contractors tried to bribe Delwar several times through his colleagues, including Selim. Delwar often told me that he had complained to the city mayor [Md Zahangir Alam] about these issues."
“The mayor assured him that if he continued working, there would be no problem. But even after the mayor's assurance, my husband was killed because of these corrupt men,” Khadiza added.
Mayor Zahangir was unavailable for comments.