A man, who was allegedly involved in mugging, using a white Premio, and also in the abduction of a college girl from Uttara, was killed in a “gunfight” with the police early yesterday in the capital’s Hatirjheel.
The alleged criminal, Md Giasuddin alias Shafiqul Islam, 27, was from East Chandpur village under Senbagh upazila in Noakhali. He was also known as Apon.
Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said acting on a tip-off about a mugging attempt in Hatirjheel, around 3:30am, two teams of the detective branch of police chased a Premio car carrying the suspected criminals.
“The people inside the car fired at police, forcing the latter to shoot back,” he said, adding: “At one stage, the passengers fled, except one who had been injured.”
Masudur said a sub-inspector and a constable also sustained injuries in the gunfight. The car was seized, and a gun, two bullets and three mobile phones were recovered from the scene.
Apon was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctors declared him dead, said the policeman.
“Apon had at least 15 cases filed against him, including three murder cases, four arms cases and seven mugging cases, with different police stations. He was arrested several times in the past and in 2010, escaped from the dock after being taken to a Dhaka court,” he said.
Masudur said on July 3, Apon had kidnapped a college girl from Uttara, after killing a security guard, and had raped her.
The girl was abducted from Sector 4 in Uttara on the night of July 3 in the presence of her groom and mother. The abductors had killed security guard Liakat Hossain alias Liton before taking her away.
The girl, however, was dropped off a few hours later in Uttara and police arrested a youth named Rummon, his brother, father and one of his friends from Kafrul, for their alleged involvement in the abduction of the girl and the murder of the security guard.
Nisarul Arif, deputy commissioner of Uttara division, said Apon had kidnapped the girl and raped her.
“Apart from mugging, he would abduct and rape girls,” he said.
“Using a white Premio car, he was involved in several recent mugging incidents in different places such as Dhanmondi, Gulshan, Banani, Rampura and Uttara,” he added.
Nisarul said they were certain about Apon’s involvement in the abduction of the college girl from Uttara but the girl and her mother suspected that two teachers of the college and Rummon, her former sweetheart, were behind it.
“Rummon and others arrested with him had no links to the incident,” he added.
