Shibli Sadiq Hriday was brutally murdered after being abducted atop a hill due to a longstanding feud with workers of a poultry farm, according to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).
Lieutenant Colonel Md Mahbub Alam, the commanding officer of RAB-7, revealed in a press conference on Sunday morning at Chandgaon camp in Chittagong that following his murder, the abductors dismembered Hriday's body.
Hriday, a 20-year-old college student and manager of the poultry farm, had been abducted 13 days earlier. The gruesome discovery of his dismembered body took place on September 11 in Chittagong's Raozan area.
Hriday, the son of Md Shafiq from Panchpara village in Kodolpur union of Raozan upazila, had protested against the dishonest practice of poultry farm workers, who were selling chicken feed without providing sufficient food. This led to multiple disputes between Hriday and the workers.
In response, the workers devised a plan to teach Hriday a lesson. They abducted him from the poultry farm and transported him to a hill in Kodolpur union near the border. There, they slit his throat and covered his body with banana tree leaves. Subsequently, they used a knife to separate the flesh from the body to prevent identification.
Two accused, Uchingthowai Marma and his associate Kyasai Ong Chowdhury, were arrested by RAB on Saturday. These two individuals had played direct roles in the brutal murder.
Uchingthowai Marma was apprehended from the Patenga area, while Kyasai Ong Chowdhury was arrested in the Notun Bridge area based on information provided by Uchingthowai Marma.
Aside from his studies, Hriday worked at a poultry farm in Kodolpur. He was abducted on the night of August 28 from the farm.
Two days after the abduction, the kidnappers contacted Hriday's family, demanding a ransom of Tk15 lakh.
The family negotiated with the abductors, ultimately agreeing to pay Tk2 lakh. Hriday's father, Shafiq, traveled to a location known as Dulapara in the Bandarban area and handed over the ransom money to two individuals.
However, despite the ransom payment, Hriday was not released, prompting the family to file a complaint at the Raozan police station.
Chittagong Zone Sadar Camp Commander Additional Superintendent of Police Mahfuzur Rahman provided chilling details about the horrifying incident involving Hriday.
He revealed that Umong Ching, one of the five poultry farm employees involved in the brutal mass beating, had taken the drastic decision to end Hriday’s life after being held captive for a day.
Uchingthowai Marma was assigned the gruesome task of executing this act. On August 29, Uchingthowai killed Hriday by beheading him with a sharp knife. Following the murder, the body was initially concealed on the hilltop using banana leaves.
Fearing that leaving the body intact would lead to its discovery by the police, they decided to eliminate all traces of Hriday.
Uchingthowai decided to dismember and scatter the body, resulting in the extraction of flesh and the disposal of the remains, leaving only bones scattered throughout the jungle.
Rahman also disclosed that, apart from the five farm employees involved, another criminal gang comprising five to six members, led by Uchingthowai, was engaged in the abduction, murder, and disposal of the body.
Even after Hriday's murder, the five employees returned to work at the farm as if nothing had happened. Hriday's father visited the farm in search of his missing son.
RAB official Mahfuzur Rahman further revealed that out of the Tk2 lakh ransom, Tk1.5 lakh went to Uchingthowai, while the remaining Tk50,000 was divided among the other perpetrators.