RAB and the Detective Branch of police have given conflicting information over the arrests in connection with the Moghbazar triple murder incident.
RAB on Saturday said they detained five people from Munshiganj and Moghbazar for their alleged involvement in the killing of three people in Moghbazar.
Among the five, Raju, 20, Opu, 30, Sohel, 28, and Billal, 28, were named in the First Information Report, said RAB, adding that the other man was Kamal Hossain, a crony of Kala Babu, the prime suspect in the incident.
The five were later handed over to Ramna police. However, DB investigators said they did not find any involvement of the four in the incident.
“This is why they were sent to police custody and were shown arrested under Section 54 of the penal code,” Krishnapada Roy, deputy commissioner of DB (south), told the Dhaka Tribune.
DB police also arrested a man named Sohel Khan after the FIR was filed on August 29. However, it was alleged that a person by the name Sohel was picked up by some men from his relative’s house in Badda on the same day.
Tasnim Akhter Sathi, wife of Sohel detained in Badda, told the Dhaka Tribune her husband was totally innocent and also a cancer patient.
“He recently came to Bangladesh from Saudi Arabia but on the day of incident, some people, who identified themselves as law enforcers, picked him up,” she said.
Sathi’s brother-in-law Abul Kashem filed a general diary with Badda police station in this connection.
However, Mufti Mahmood Khan, director of the legal and media wing of RAB, said they arrested Sohel based on the FIR filed by the plaintiff, and his involvement in the incident was found.
“We do not know what his family claims. We arrested him on Saturday night and handed him over to Ramna police,” he said.
“The investigating officer will find out who the real Sohel is. If he finds any involvement of the arrestee in the incident, he has the power to decide what he will do with him,” he added.
DB Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune Sohel was arrested not long after the murders and he was also identified by the plaintiff.
“I do not have any idea of arresting another Sohel after mistaking him for the real one,” he said.
Runa Akhter, wife of Kamal Hossain, told the Dhaka Tribune her husband was also picked up on the same night and no law enforcement agency had acknowledged the detention.
“Finally, he was shown arrested by RAB on Saturday,” she said.
My husband was picked up on September 2, with police denying his arrest, and he was eventually shown arrested on Saturday, said Baby Akhter, wife of Billal. Mufti Mahmood said all the detainees were held early on Saturday and it was now up to the investigators to identify the real killers.
“We arrested them for their involvement in the murders,” he added.
Seeking anonymity, a top DB official said of the five arrested by RAB, four were innocent and had no link with the killings. He claimed the four were picked up by RAB around a month ago.
On August 28, assailants killed three people - Bristy Akther, Munna and Billal - after entering their house at Sonalibagh in Moghbazar.
A case was filed with Ramna police station against 15 people in connection with the incident.
