Detectives have been looking for three female models and five others, who are allegedly involved in the killing of police's Special Branch Inspector Md Mamun Imran Khan.
Mamun, 38, was murdered in a city flat on Sunday.
The accused female models are – Suraiya Akhter Keya, 22, Meherunnesa Swarna, alias Afrin, 19, and Faria Binte Mim, alias Maisha, 18.
The other five suspects are: Swapan, 40, Didar, 40, Mizan, 35, Atik, 30, and Sheikh Hridoy, alias Apon alias Rabiul, 25.
Several officials from Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Detective Branch (DB), told the Dhaka Tribune on condition of anonymity that DB men have already tracked down the location of the alleged suspects.
They are all no longer in Dhaka now and have fled to a south-western district of the country. Several DB teams are working to arrest the accused as soon as possible, said the DB officials.
Meanwhile, the prime accused, Rahmat Ullah, 35, was placed on a seven day remand on Wednesday after being arrested by a DB team on Tuesday night from Uttara in the capital.
“Rahmat has confessed to his involvement in Mamun’s murder. He has also disclosed the names of his associates,” said DMP's Additional Commissioner (DB), Devdas Bhattacharya.
“The motive behind the gruesome murder can be cleared after the key accused are arrested,” added the additional commissioner.
SB officer Mamun joined the Bangladesh Police as a sub-inspector in 2005 and was posted to several Dhaka based police units. In 2015, he was promoted to inspector and posted to Chittagong.
Around four months ago he was transferred to Dhaka. Besides working at his police job , Mamun also acted in plays and telefilms.
What happened to Mamun on that night?
Mamun left his Sabujbagh residence on Sunday and did not return. His cell phone was found switched off. Failing to track Mamun, his elder brother Jahangir Alam Khan filed a general diary (GD) with Sabujbag police station the following day.
After receiving the GD, DB members started investigating the matter and detained Rahmat first as a suspect. Later, DB officials came to know from Rahmat that he and his cohorts had killed Mamun and left his burnt body in Gazipur.
In the meantime, on Tuesday, local police in Gazipur recovered a burnt body from the district's Kaliganj uazila.
Later, DB police contacted local police who confirmed the recovery of a burnt body.
The victim's elder brother then identified the body to be Mamun's.
Later, a murder case was filed with Banani police station in this connection.
Police officials said the murderers trapped Mamun calling him to a residence in Banani on pretence of celebrating a model's birthday.
Police are now looking for the 10 to 12 suspects, who are also allegedly involved in extorting money from people after trapping them.
The investigators quoting Rahmat said: “Mamun was an amateur actor, and Rahmat Ullah has been involved in showbiz. They were acquainted.
On Sunday, Rahmat invited Mamun to a birthday party of model-actress Afrin, in Banani.”
“There were several men and women in the flat when they arrived. The men Swapan, Mizan and Atik, managed to blackmail Mamun after taking intimate pictures of him with the women.
After Mamun disclosed his identity, they started to physically assault him, which led to his death,” said investigators quoting Rahmat.
The investigators said next morning the body was loaded into Rahmat’s car trunk, then Rahmat and three others started for Gazipur.
The killers drove around Gazipur the whole day before finally finding a spot in Kaliganj in the evening. They dumped the body and set it on fire before leaving, added the investigators.
Police said Rahmat is an engineer and is also in showbiz.
The investigators also found the accused are part of a gang who blackmail people in his manner and a man who goes by the name of Nazrul Islam is their leader.
The Banani flat where police officer Mamun was murdered, was found locked on Thursday.
The building supervisor Miraz said, “Nazrul Islam rented the flat in May, which he said would be used as an office for a media company. The landlord had asked Nazrul to vacate the flat as he was falling behind in paying the rent.”
