The Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested one more accused in the Mogbazar triple murder case in the capital’s Demra area early yesterday.
Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner of police, confirmed the arrest to the Dhaka Tribune: “A team of DB police nabbed him from Demra area following a tip-off.”
The arrested, Arif Hawlader, is listed as the 12 in the case’s First Information Report (FIR), filed with Ramna police station.
Including this arrest, the total number of arrest made in this case now stands at four.
The murders took place on August 28 at Sonalibagh area in Noyatola, Mogbazar. Miscreants broke into a residential house and shot three people – owner Brishti Akhter Ranu, 30, and her tenants Munna, 22, and Billal Hossain, 20 – dead. Ranu’s brother Hridoy, 18, was also shot and injured, and received treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Shamim alias Kala Chand, secretary of Awami League’s Railway unit in Mogbazar, and Hridoy filed the FIR next day with Raman police Station in this regard, accusing 16 people.
Soon after the case was filed, police arrested Faruk and Sohel, two of the accused and they confessed to being involved in the murder. Presented before a Dhaka court, they were placed under a five-day remand.
On August 31, police arrested Jony, another accused in the triple murder.
The rest of the accused – Kailla Babu, Faisal Ahmed Rony, Shahadat, Raju, Topu, Arif, Maruf, Billal, Thandu, Siraj and Pichchi Rony – went into hiding soon after the incident. The DB is currently investigating the case.
Locals and police claimed that the murders were the result of a conflict between Kailla Babu and Kala Chand over the possession of a land owned by Bangladesh Railway.
When contacted, Krishna Pada Roy, deputy commissioner of the DB and investigation coordinator of the case, told the Dhaka tribune that they had significant leads in the case.
“We do have important information regarding the murders and we are verifying it,” he said. “Several of our teams are investigating the case and raids are being conducted to arrest the criminals.”
False arrest claimed
Allegation of false arrest in the triple murder case was made against the DB yesterday.
Taslima Akhter Shathi, resident of the capital’s Rampura area, claimed that her husband Jahidul Islam Sohel was picked up by some people identifying themselves as the DB personnel on Friday on charges of being involved in the murders.
Sohel, an expatriate and cancer patient, was visiting his elder sister in Badda along with his wife when he was arrested, Shathi said.
“My husband used to work in Saudi Arabia and came back to the country in June last year, after being diagnosed with cancer and being treated for it,” she told the Dhaka Tribune.
“On the day the murders took place, Opu, an acquaintance of my husband who lives in the same neighbourhood as the murder victims, called my husband on his mobile phone seeking help to get out of the area,” she said.
“Sohel then called a friend of his to help Opu out, who was hiding inside a tin-shed building during the shooting. There was nothing more to this as far as my husband is concerned, but the DB still arrested him,” she said. She further alleged that the DB was now denying having arrested her husband.
“Sohel needs around Tk20,000-25,000 worth of medications, and if he does not get them soon, his health condition will deteriorate,” he said.
When asked about the allegation of false arrest, Deputy Commissioner Krishna Pada Roy said:”We have already arrested an FIR-listed criminal named Sohel. Therefore there can be no such mistaken arresting any other Sohel.”
It might have been imposters using the DB’s name to grab Sohel, the deputy commissioner said.
