Investigators came to know that hired goons had been keeping their eye on former Bangladesh Chhatra League President Enamul Haq Shamim for at least three days before they shot him in a running car in the capital’s Dhanmondi on Thursday.
On that day, the criminals whose target was to kill Shamim, but he escaped with bullet wounds, were waiting on three spots before he went out of his Dhanmondi residence in the morning. One of the groups was waiting in front of his residence, another near Ibn Sina Hospital on Road 9/A and the third just opposite of intersection near Stamford University.
The criminals waiting near the hospital shot him thrice and fled through Road 9/A. They were keeping contact with other criminals by cell phone, said a highly placed source at Detective Branch of police yesterday seeking anonymity.
Detectives were checking some cell phone numbers used frequently in the area just before and after the incident, he said.
However, the law enforcers are yet to arrest any of the miscreants or masterminds.
Shamim, a member of Awami League central committee, told reporters that he was in the front seat of his car when three people on a motorbike shot him near his residence. He is now undergoing treatment at Combined Military Hospital.
Shamim, one of the few student leaders close to Prime Minister and party President Sheikh Hasina, was made a working committee member in 2012. He is known to be close to businessman Zainul Haque Sikder and has several businesses of his own.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune last evening, the chief of a law enforcement agency said they were surprised to see the promptness of the attackers. “They carried out the gun attack in less than a minute. They fired three gunshots. It seemed that they used to carry out gun attacks,” he said.
He said they had received CCTV camera footage from the Ibn Sina Hospital authority following the attack. From the footage, they were trying to identify the three shooters.
“The surveillance camera captured the video of the attack, but it was not easy to identify the attackers through the video,” he said.
“The shooters were aged between 25 and 35. They did not wear any helmet,” he said. The official claimed that the mystery behind the gun attack would be uncovered soon.
Officer-in-Charge of Dhanmondi police station Abu Bakar Siddique said they are considering three issues for investigation --- enmity over any personal, business or political issues. However, they were giving priority to the political rivalry.
“We made no arrest so far, but we are conducting drives. No case is filed till now,” he said.
Seeking anonymity, a DB official said they came to know that Shamim had political feud with the family of a lawmaker in Shariatpur.
The MP along with his family was preparing and creating grounds to make one of their members an aspirant for the next parliamentary elections.
Shamim was also thinking of competing in the polls. Moreover, Shamim’s men won the chairman and vice-chairman posts in the upazila polls.
“But we are yet to be sure if that feud was the reason behind the attack. This is one of the angles we are digging out,” the official said.
He mentioned that Shamim has influence over the BCL as an ex-leader which can fuel feud.
Moreover, he has been involved with a business group and relation with the group had been worsening for the last two years.
There was also a feud over changing the ownership of a bank.
The official, however, did not disclose the name of the business group or the bank. “I think we will draw a conclusion soon,” he said.