Law enforcers on Thursday arrested three more people, including a former lawmaker, in connection with a case filed over the murder of a man named Shahinuddin in broad daylight in Dhaka’s Pallabi area.
Members of both the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) raided a number of places in the capital Dhaka and Bhairab upazila of Kishoreganj district and nabbed the trio in the early hours of the day.
The accused were identified as Md Sumon Bepari, 33, Md Rocky Talukder, 25, and MA Awal, the former lawmaker from Lakshmipur 1 constituency.
Sources at RAB headquarters said that the elite force conducted raids in Bhairab late on Wednesday night, after being tipped off, and arrested the former MP in the early hours of Thursday. He is the prime accused in the case.
Similarly, the zonal team of DB (Mirpur) conducted raids at several places in the capital’s Pallabi and Rayerbagh areas and arrested Sumon and Rocky around the same time.
Speaking at a press briefing in Dhaka, Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director of RAB's legal and media wing, said: “Sumon, after murdering Shahinuddin, called Awal and said – ‘Sir, finished!’ They talked for 30 seconds.”
“Also, a few days ago, we arrested Hasan, 19, from Chandpur and Zahirul Islam Babu, 27, from Patuakhali in connection with the murder.”
He told reporters that four to five days prior to the murder, Taher, Sumon and other members of the killing group sat with Awal.
Additional Deputy Commissioner (Mirpur Division) of DMP DB Md Ahsan Khan said: “We are interrogating the suspects. Efforts are underway to arrest the others involved in the murder of Shahinuddin, including former army Maj Mostafa Kamal, Taher, Manik, Nata-Sumon and several others.”
DMP’s Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC-Media) Iftakhairul Islam said that Sumon had plotted the murder and led the team of assailants. "His quick interrogation led to the immediate arrest of Rocky in the Kalapani area of Pallabi," he said.
Two other accused in the case – Murad and Dipu – were arrested earlier. While the Pallabi police nabbed Murad soon after the crime on May 16, Dipu was held a day after.
Awal is the chairman of Islami Ganatantrik Party, a former secretary general of the Bangladesh Tarikat Federation, and the managing director of Haveli Property Development Limited.
On May 16, the accused called up Shahinuddin on his mobile phone and asked him to come to Mirpur 12 on the pretext of resolving a land dispute.
When the victim reached the area at around 4pm on the day, the assailants attacked him, hacking him to death with sharp weapons in front of his seven-year-old son.
A murder case was filed at Pallabi Police Station on May 17 against several people, including Awal, Sumon and Rocky by the victim’s mother Aklima Begum.
According to Aklima Begum, Awal killed Shahinuddin with hired miscreants over a land dispute.