The suspect arrested over the killings of local Awami League leader Jahidul Islam Tipu and a bystander is a professional contract killer, say investigators.
Suspect Masum Mohammad Akash was arrested on Saturday from Bogra, the Detective Branch (DB) said on Sunday.
“Soon after the killings, Akash went to Joypurhat in a bid to cross over to India. But he failed and came to Bogra,” DB Additional Commissioner Hafiz Akter told a media call.
Masum Mohammad Akash is flanked by police officers following his arrest Bangla TribuneDescribing the murder of Tipu, a former general secretary of the ruling party’s Motijheel unit, as a “contract killing”, Akter said Akash has “confessed to opening fire on Tipu” during initial interrogation.
“He was assigned five days ago to kill Tipu. The day before the murder, Akash staked out at the Kamalapur ICD area to attack him, but did not get a chance,” said the senior DB official.
Fifty-five-year-old Tipu was shot dead in the capital’s Shahjahanpur on Thursday night. A 22-year-old bystander, Samia Afnan Prity, also died in the attack when a stray bullet hit her.
Security camera footage showed Tipu sitting on the front passenger seat of his microbus during the incident. The microbus was headed from AGB Colony towards Khilgaon level-crossing.
As it was stuck in traffic near the local branch of Islami Bank, a man wearing a helmet opened fire through the window of the vehicle. He then crossed the street and fled on a motorcycle driven by another person.
Police said Tipu was accused and arrested in the 2013 murder of Jubo League leader Reazul Haque Khan Milky, but was later relieved of the charges.