Several check-posts were set up minutes after the murder of Japanese national Hoshi Kunio, but the killers might have escaped through one of the many unguarded feeder roads of the main highway in Rangpur.
Rangpur police, who are looking into the murder that took place on Saturday, however, have yet to make any significant progress in solving the murder mystery.
But local residents alleged that police have been slow in reacting to the news of the murder.
Sarai Union Parisad Chairman Asraful Islam said the murder took place around 10am and he informed the OC of the Kawnia police station within 15 minutes. He also informed the high officials of the district administration about the murder right after.
When contacted, OC Rezaul Islam said: “After receiving information from the chairman, I immediately called the local control room and got check-posts set up at all the possible exit routes.
“But all the check-posts at the main entry points came to no use because there are many feeder roads to the Rangpur-Haragachha road and the killers, who were riding a motorbike, might have used one of those,” he said.
According to sources, there are at least five roads, which the killers could have used to flee the crime scene. Three of those roads are within a five kilometer radius from the place where the murder was committed.
Abdullah, a local businessman, said the killers might have fled towards the border using the Aragachha feeder road. “They might have also used the Haragachha-Madamadan-Mirbagh-Kawnia feeder road to escape towards Kawnia. That road leads to the neighbouring Lalmonirhat district and ends up near the border.”
Police have detained a total of six people for interrogation; four of them were detained on the day of the incident.
Meanwhile, a second team of Japanese investigators arrived in Rangpur yesterday. They landed at the Syedpur airport around 5pm, went straight to the Kawnia Police Station and then to the crime scene.
Earlier, a team from the Japanese Embassy in Dhaka completed all formalities to take the dead body, but they were waiting until yesterday for the second team to arrive. In the meantime, Hoshi’s body is being kept at the morgue of the Rangpur Medical College Hospital.
