The accused in the murder of Sub-Inspector (SI) Altaf Hossain in Savar are involved in teen gangs and various other crimes, according to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).
RAB-10 arrested eight accused in the case, including four during a special operation in Munshiganj on Sunday night and four others in Savar.
At a press conference at the RAB Media Centre on Monday, RAB-10 Commander Additional DIG Mohammad Asaduzzaman provided details of the arrests.
An operational team of RAB-10’s Sadar Company conducted a raid in the Launchghat area under Munshiganj Sadar police station based on intelligence and arrested four accused: Alauddin, 26, Apan, 30, Jihad, 20, and Imran, 26.
RAB said Apan is accused in three drug cases filed with Savar police station.
Meanwhile, an operational team of RAB-4 conducted a raid in the Aminbazar area under Savar police station using information technology and intelligence and arrested four more accused: Noor Mohammad Rudra, 24, Md Rakib Mia, 28, Chabbir Ahmed, 24, and Md Wasim, 40.
Mohammad Asaduzzaman said Jihad and Apan are involved in leading a teen gang and are accused in drug-related cases. He said all 15 accused in the incident have some form of involvement with juvenile gangs.
He said SI Altaf was not targeted because he was a police officer. The accused were allegedly intoxicated at the time and attacked the officer when he tried to prevent a crime.
RAB said Apan was the mastermind of the murder and struck SI Altaf with an SS pipe.
According to RAB, Altaf had gone to the area on humanitarian grounds to resolve a local dispute, but the attackers ignored his intervention and beat him to death.
The RAB-10 commander said the incident took place in public, with several people recording the incident on their phones but leaving without handing the attackers over to police.
“The public must come forward in such crimes. It is not possible for law enforcement agencies alone to control them. If the public makes a collective effort, criminals can be brought under the law quickly, and collective resistance can also help reduce such crimes,” he said.
He added: “If a crime is committed in public, it is the responsibility of ordinary people to arrest the criminal and hand them over to police. The law also allows members of the public to do so. But people are sacrificing their conscience and avoiding the scene after merely taking pictures, which is an example of human failure.”
RAB said it had arrested eight of the 15 accused in the case. Four were arrested in the Launchghat area of Munshiganj and another four in Aminbazar, Savar.
Another accused was previously arrested by Savar police station under Dhaka District Police.