Zakir Hossain alias Kangali Zakir, an accused in the killing of a traffic sergeant Ahad, was killed in a gunfight with police in the capital’s Khilgaon early yesterday, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police officials.
DMP officials said two policemen - Alim and Jony Barua - also sustained bullet wounds in the shootout.
Inspector Sirajul Islam, officer-in-charge of Khilgaon police station, said they found bullet-hit Zakir, 40, near Khidmah Hospital around 3am and took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctors declared him dead.
A gun with three rounds of bullets was also recovered from him, he said,
Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner of police at DMP Media Centre, said a team from the detective branch of police were on duty near Bishwa Road as there had been complaints that passengers of Sohag Paribahan were frequently being mugged in the area.
“Police got into a gunfight with some armed men around 3am when the latter fired at law enforcers,” he said.
The hometown of Zakir, son of late Azizul Haque, is Kanchanghat, a village in Dinajpur. He would live at a house on Matuail High School road in Jatrabari with his second wife Parvin Akhter.
Parvin identified her husband’s body at Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue and claimed Zakir had no involvement in any criminal activity after he had served nine years in prison for the killing of sergeant Ahad.
“Although there were several cases against my husband in connection with mugging and possession of illegal arms, he was not involved in any criminal act,” she said.
Police, however, said Zakir was the leader of criminals involved in mugging in Khilgaon, Rampura, Malibagh, Ramna and several other areas.
He was also the accused in at least five cases lodged with different police stations, added police.