Nur Hossain, the prime accused in the Narayanganj seven murders, fled the country on May 2 and is now in West Bengal capital Kolkata, says RAB.
Additional Director General (operations) of the elite force Col Ziaul Ahsan yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have specific information that Nur Hossain fled the country through the Benapole border on the night of May 2. He is in Kolkata.”
To clarify he said: “My job is to remain updated on criminals’ whereabouts. It is not very tough to locate him since we have adequate modern technologies.
“The mystery over the killings after abduction can be unveiled if Nur Hossain is arrested.”
The senior RAB official also said they were verifying whether Shahidul Islam, the father-in-law of slain ward councillor Nazrul Islam, had any role in the murders.
Meanwhile, Shahidul yesterday alleged that Col Ziaul had helped Nur evade arrest and flee the country. The RAB official was also involved in the abductions and murders along with three other top officials of RAB 11 unit.
Col Ziaul rejected the allegations outright.
Shahidul told reporters that Col Ziaul had been trying to help the trio.
“Col Ziaul Ahsan told a newspaper [on Sunday] with the intention to implicate me that they were verifying whether I have any link in the killing of my son-in-law and six others. As he claims that Nur Hossain fled the country and staying in Kolkata, we suspect that he helped Nur to flee the country,” he claimed.
Nazrul, lawyer Chandan Sarkar and five others were abducted on April 27 by some criminals who were allegedly assisted by three top officials of RAB 11. Their bodies were later found in River Shitalakkhya on April 30 and May 1.
The trio were later withdrawn from RAB while their mother organisations sent them to forced retirement.
Following Sunday’s High Court order, the Home Ministry yesterday directed the police headquarters to arrest them. The court also ordered to hand over the trio to the Detective Branch of Police.
On May 4, Shahidul and other members of Nazrul’s family first alleged that then commanding officer of RAB 11 Lt Col Tarek Sayeed Mahmud, and two other officials – Maj Arif Hossain and Lt Commander SM Masud Rana – had been involved in the killings in exchange of Tk6 crore.
The government withdrew the trio on April 28 along with the district police chief and the deputy commissioner of Narayanganj. The Army sent Tarek and the Navy sent Arif and Rana on forced retirement on April 30.
Inter Services Public Relations Directorate (ISPR) Director Shahinul Islam said they did not know anything about the three as they were no longer under the Armed Forces Division.
State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal yesterday told reporters that the three RAB officials might be arrested anytime soon. “A drive to arrest the former RAB personnel will begin anytime as they are under observation.”
Sources in the Home Ministry and the police headquarters said a police team had already left Narayanganj for the capital to arrest the trio.
Khandaker Mahid Uddin, police superintend in Narayanganj, told the Dhaka Tribune last night that they were working to execute the arrest order.
