Yet another unidentified youth was killed in a “gunfight” with police early yesterday in the capital’s Mirpur area.
Police suspected that he was a Islami Chhatra Shibir activist. Police sent his body to the Dhaka Medical College morgue.
Nobody had claimed the body as of filing of this report last evening.
Jahirul Islam, a sub-inspector of Mirpur police station, said activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Shibir hurled petrol and crude bombs at a patrol team of police at east Monipur around 3pm. A retaliation from the law enforcers triggered a gunfight.
The man aged around 22 came in the line of fire and sustained bullet wounds.
“His cohorts managed to flee the scene,” the SI told reporters at the DMCH.
Police took the youth to the DMCH where doctors declared him dead. Four petrol and crude bombs were recovered from the scene, police said.
Meanwhile, relatives of the two unknown youths reportedly killed by RAB in Jatrabari early Wednesday identified them at the hospital’s morgue yesterday.
The family members claimed that the youths had no political affiliation or criminal records.
The two youths were identified as Shakhawat Hossain, 19, and Mujahidul Islam Jihad, 33, both from Lakshmipur district.
Shakhawat went missing 15 days back
Family members of Shakhawat said plainclothes law enforcers had picked him up 15 days ago.
They filed a general diary with Tejgaon police station, but police could not provide his whereabouts.
Ripon Bhuiyan, a maternal cousin of the victim who received the body from the morgue in the afternoon, said Shakhawat had worked for Uttoron Motors, a tire and battery selling shop, for the last three years.
He lived in a mess on the second floor of an adjacent building.
“On January 21, he went to Sugandha Hotel and Restaurant adjacent to his mess for lunch around 3pm. Seven-eight plainclothes men detained him there and drove away in a white microbus,” he said.
Since then Shakhawat’s phone has been found switched off. The next day the manager at Shakhawat’s workplace lodged the GD saying he had been abducted.
Hearing the news victim’s mother Sufia Begum came to the capital from their village home at Raypur and filed an abduction case with the same police station on January 27.
“I went back to our village. I heard that the case was handed over to the Detective Branch of police. In the morning I was told that my son’s body was at the morgue,” she said.
Ripon told the Dhaka Tribune that they had no idea about his affiliation with any political party.
Mujahidul was also missing
Mujahidul’s younger brother Zahidul Islam Sohag received his brother’s body at the DMCH morgue in the afternoon.
He claimed Mujahidul had been missing for more than a week. On January 26, they filed a GD with Kafrul police station.
After watching the TV news report on killings of two youths in “crossfire” he came to the morgue.
According to his family members Mujahidul, son of Abul Khayer Bhuiya of Lakshmipur, went to Singapore for work two years back.
He returned two months later and started trading vegetables at Karwan Bazar. His father is a retired government employee. He was third among nine siblings.
“He talked with family members over phone occasionally. We had some family problems for which he did not visit us. We heard that he was missing and then filed the GD,” Zahidul said.
RAB claimed that in Kather Pool area of Jatrabari miscreants threw stones towards a patrol team early Wednesday. As the car slowed down they hurled crude bombs and opened fire on the car.
A bullet also hit the door of the car. The RAB men retaliated with bullets that triggered the gunfight.
Two unknown youths received bullets in the gunfight, said RAB. Later they were taken to the DMCH in critical condition.
RAB 10 Deputy Assistant Director Shahid took them to the DMCH where doctors declared them dead on arrival.
Shahid said they had recovered a pistol and some crude bombs from the spot.