Police claim to know who ordered the Gopibagh six murders and slaying of TV presenter Shaikh Nurul Islam Faruqi, after interrogating an Islamist militant arrested while on his way to kill two school teachers.
“Both of the murders were conducted using ‘sleeper cells.’ A former student of North South University (NSU) and leader of banned militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Redwanul Azad Rana, gave the instruction to carry out the killings,” a high official of the Detective Branch of Police (DB), who is coordinating the investigation of the murder, yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune on condition of anonymity.
Detectives believe he also gave the order to have two teachers, of Monipur High School in Dhaka, killed. One of the teachers’ would-be killers, arrested sleeper cell operative, Khorshed Alam Rubel, told police about Rana’s command role in the murders.
Rubel was arrested during a gunfight with law enforcers at the President Zillur Rahman Flyover on October 14.
Rana, from Feni’s Daganbhuiyan upazila, is listed as an accused in the charge sheet of the Blogger Rajib murder case.
Rubel told detectives that Rana, a former Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) leader, had recently joined the JMB.
Rana would contact Rubel via a secret IP address but never made contact using a cellphone, police said.
Rubel was also instructed to kill two Monipur High School teachers through a website called “Secure Text.” The site was shut down soon after his arrest, DB officials said.
Rana’s location remains a mystery because the operatives never contacted each other using cellphones, DB sources said.
DB Additional Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ashiqur Rahman said police had information about the mastermind behind the murders: “The planner is an expert in computer science and the internet and never contacted anyone using a cellphone.”
“We are hopeful of a break through when we arrest Rana,” ADC Ashiq added.
On August 27, unidentified assailants killed Shaikh Nurul Islam Faruqi, host of TV talks shows “Kafela” and “Shantir Pothe,” at his residence in the capital’s Purbo Rajabazar area.
In a similar incident, assailants killed self-styled pir Lutfur Rahman and five others after entering his rented flat in the Gopibagh area of the capital on December 21, 2013.
Monirul Islam, DB joint commissioner, said the murders appeared to be a religious statement by extremist groups. “We have get some confirmation from arrested JMB members last month that at least one of their members is involved in the killings,” he said.
