It is still a mystery,reason behind the Rapid Action Battalion members had gone to the village of Dakkhin Saljana in Manikganj after midnight as RAB and police officials have been making statements contrary to the local people’s description.
The disposition of the five confined RAB men in plain clothes in the village around 3am on Wednesday further entangled the matter. The locals first took them as robbers.
Maj Ariful Islam, a member from RAB 4, yesterday said: “This is merely a misunderstanding. We cannot say anything more about the matter.”
Quoting the RAB members, OC of Shibaloy police station Rakibuzzaman said they had been patrolling in the area. The locals said it was the first time they had seen RAB members in the village while the confined elite force members claimed that they had been heading for Faridpur but used that road mistakenly.
According to the Shibaloy police, there were 14 RAB members in two teams. The first team fell into the trap of a muddy road with their microbus and the second went there after the police had reached the scene.
They were all taken to the police station and later handed over to RAB 4 around 6am on Wednesday.
When contacted, RAB’s Media Wing Director Wing Commander ATM Habibur Rahman on Wednesday told the Dhaka Tribune: “Neither the RAB men were confined by the villagers nor detained by the Shibaloy police. The RAB men took shelter at the Shibaloy police station as their microbus faced difficulty on the way to Faridpur to conduct an operation.”
However, intelligence sources said the RAB members had been sent there in two teams for an operation.
According to the sources, when the local people came together, the RAB teams had cancelled their “sudden mission” and then the backup team, which took position at a nearby place, reached there as soon as possible.
The police also went there to protect the RAB men since an unavoidable occurrence could take place between the local people and the law enforcers for any kind of misunderstandings.
A police official, requesting to be anonymous as he was not authorised to speak to media, said the RAB members might be tracking records of someone they had been looking for.
An intelligence source also said the RAB members might have gone there to arrest someone hiding in Dakkhin Saljana village.
However, a senior RAB official concerned said they had no such operation in the village.
State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal at a programme on Wednesday said: “Sometimes we have to send law enforcers in plain clothes to complete a mission.”