The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has identified a rival in the party as the mastermind of the attack on Awami League leader Jahidul Islam Tipu, which left him and another bystander dead on a busy Dhaka street last week.
In a media call on Saturday, it said that Omar Faruq, general secretary of the party’s Dhaka South city ward No 10 unit, was behind the killing on the night of March 24.
Late on Friday, RAB said in a message that four suspects, including the mastermind, were arrested from different places of the city, but did not provide any further details.
“Rivalry over establishing supremacy in Motijheel is the reason behind the murder of Tipu,” RAB spokesperson Khandaker Al Moin told a press call on Saturday.
The three other suspects are Nasir Hossain alias “Killer Nasir”, Saleh Sikder alias "Shooter Saleh" and Mohammad Moreshedul Alam alias "Kailla Palash", according to the elite police unit.
The arrests were made from Mugda, Shahjahanpur and Mirpur in the capital, said RAB.
A motorbike, which was used by a watcher during the attack, a mobile phone and Tk33,000 in cash were seized during the raid.
Tipu served as general secretary of the ruling party’s Motijheel unit, but lost his post following his arrest over the 2013 murder of Jubo League leader Riazul Haque Khan Milky.
Police, however, did not press charges against him in court. Tipu was not reinstated in the unit’s leadership, but his wife Farhana Islam Dolly is the local reserved councilor.
Jahidul Islam Tipu and college student Samia Afnan Prity are seen in this combination of file photos obtained from the internetTipu owned a restaurant in Dhaka South City ward No 10, which falls in the Motijheel area. He used to be at the eatery almost every day.
Faruq, who has been identified as the mastermind by RAB, is in the leadership of the party’s unit for the same ward.
Apart from the food businesses, Tipu also was a supply contractor for several organizations, including the National Sports Council. He also sat on the governing body of the Ideal School and College in Motijheel.
The suspects confessed to their involvements in planning the attack on Tipu, according to senior RAB officer Moin.
“The suspects had a feud with Tipu for quite some time over admission trade in school-college, control of local markets and asserting dominance,” said the Legal and Media Wing director of RAB.
He claimed that the strings were pulled from Dubai.
“Nasir, Palash and several others have been providing inputs on Tipu to Musa for some time. On the evening of March 24, before the attack, Nasir confirmed Tipu’s location to Musa at least four times,” said Moin.
A listed criminal, Musa is an accomplice of top listed criminals Prakash and Bikash, according to police.
Screengrab from security camera footage shows the attack on Jahidul Islam Tipu, a former general secretary of the Awami League’s Motijheel unit, on the night of March 24, 2022 at Dhaka’s Shahjahanpur Focus BanglaSo far, six arrests have been made over the attack at Dhaka’s Shahjahanpur.
The Detective Branch earlier arrested and took into custody for grilling two other suspects — Masum Mohammad Akash and Arfan Ullah Damal.
A contract killer, Akash, who was hired to carry out the attack, opened fire on Tipu, investigators said. He was arrested from Bogra on March 27.
Damal was arrested late on Thursday from the capital's Kamalapur in possession of a revolver, police said on Friday before adding he was involved in planning the attack.
Fifty-four-year-old Tipu was gunned down under a flyover outside Manama Bhaban in Shahjahanpur’s Amtala.
Security camera footage showed a gunman wearing a helmet going to Tipu’s car and opening fire through the window. Within a minute, the assailant jumped on a getaway motorbike waiting on the other side of the street.
Samia Afnan Prity, a 22-year-old student of Begum Badrunnesa Government Girls’ College, was killed when a stray bullet hit her.