The woman, whose husband RAB said killed Rajshahi University (RU) professor Shafiul Islam Lilon for abusing her, claims never to have known or worked with the teacher.
The Rapid Action Battalion’s theory about the motive behind the Shafiul slaying seems undermined by recent statements made by the woman in question and by the comments of co-workers at the university.
“I used to deal with class three and four associate and general staff at Rajshahi University. I never dealt with teachers’ issues, so how would I come to know Professor AKM Shafiul Islam?” Nasrin Akther Reshma, officer of the finance and accounts section, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
Reshma, wife of RAB’s prime suspect Abdus Samad Pintu, is at the centre of the Rapid Action Battalion’s (RAB) theory about the motive behind Shafiul’s murder.
She went into hiding soon after the arrest of her husband and police have been searching for her since.
Pintu, former vice president of the RU unit of Chhatra Dal and now a leader of the BNP’s youth front, wanted the sociology department professor killed because he allegedly “misbehaved” with his wife, the RAB theory goes.
RAB made the statement at a media briefing at its headquarters on Sunday after arresting six suspects including Pintu.
RAB said the arrestees confessed that Pintu was the mastermind behind the murder and the other five carried out the killing.
But Reshma, speaking to this correspondent from her place of hiding, said she came to know about Shafiul only after media reported on his death. Her alleged connection to him was a mystery to her, she said.
RAB Legal and Media Wing Director Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan told the Dhaka Tribune last night: “We arrested the perpetrators of the murder and they confessed to us. That is what we shared with the public at our press conference.
“There may be other motives for the murder which may come to light in further investigations, but RAB will not investigate. If there are other motives, the police can find them,” he said.
“The case will got to court according to the law. An investigation officer will be appointed, and he may continue the investigation if he sees fit,” Mufti Mahmud added.
When asked whether Nasrin Akhter Reshma, the wife of RAB’s prime suspect, had been made an accused in the case, the RAB media director said he could not say without checking the case file.
On November 15, unidentified assailants killed Shafiul Islam Lilon while he was returning home from the RU campus.
The Dhaka Tribune reporter visited the finance and accounts section of RU to inquire into allegations of an affair or of abuse involving Shafiul and Reshma. None of the staff said they had ever heard of such a thing.
According to Pintu’s family and university sources, Reshma and Pintu were married 13 years ago. Her father, Shamsul Alam, is a guard of the physical education department of RU.
They live at a house beside the graveyard in the Dasmari neighbourhood of the Dharampur area of Rajshahi city together with their eight-year-old son, sources said.
Deputy Director of Accounts of RU Abdullah Al Ansari, under whose jurisdiction Reshma worked for the last seven years, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday he had never seen Reshma and any university teacher interacting.
“Reshma works with university workers. She has no business with teachers, so why would a teacher meet and talk with her?” Ansari asked.
Ansari, who sits just beside Reshma at work, said she had not even complained to him about her recent troubles.
The Dhaka Tribune also visited the sociology department to ask department members and staff what they thought of the recent claims.
Professor Dr Wardatul Akmam, chairperson of the department, said it was up to law enforcers to frame the case. She said it would not be right to talk about it, when asked about RAB’s theory of the motive for the murder.
The chairperson said the sociology department was like one big family and to the best of her knowledge, nobody had ever threatened Shafiul at his office in the department.
Reshma’s uncle hints Pintu was framed
When asked why law enforcers had arrested Pintu if he was not involved in Shafiul’s murder, one of Reshma’s uncles, a local Awami League leader, hinted that Pintu was framed over a land dispute.
Md Rabbel Hossain, uncle of Reshma and president of ward 30 of Rajshahi city Awami League (AL), said his nephew-in-law Pintu, his younger brother Alauddin, and Mahfuz and Yeasin Mollah bought 37 kathas of land a year ago, just east of Dasmari graveyard.
Rabbel said they paid taxes on the land for the last nine months, but some months ago, AL leader Salahuddin Raju made false documents and claimed the land as his own.
According to Rabbel, Raju claimed Pintu and the others had no right to the land.
Rabbel claims that Raju, who has good relations with law enforcement officers, used his influence to frame Pintu as a suspect in the Shafiul murder case.
“We even spoke with the officer-in-charge at Motihar police station regarding the land problem and a land surveyor examined the land last Friday. Just a day later, on November 22, RAB went to Pintu’s house and took him away,” Rabbel said.
Azimul, the land surveyor of Borbhumi land department office, told the Dhaka Tribune that Alauddin had taken him to a plot of land on Friday.
Azimul said Alauddin had some land documents including the letter of the AC Land in his possession, but the documents were incomplete.
“I suggested he write a letter to the commissioner of land mentioning the existing documents, in order to obtain the other necessary documents and establish ownership of the land,” Azimul said.
Police version
Alamgir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Motihar police station, said he had heard about a land related problem a month ago but said it was a matter for the land office. He suggested the disputants settle the issue in the courts.
Salahuddin Raju, who identified himself as businessman of Rajshahi city, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The land in question was first bought by my father in 1972, but was not registered properly because he died in 1973.”
“Some people, including Rabbel, have made false documents and are now claiming the land,” he said.
Md Shamsuddin, commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, Saunday said police were not happy with the RAB investigation’s claims. He said that misbehaviour with a female employee might be one motive, but other compelling aspects of the case had not been sufficiently probed.
Police have said from the outset of the investigation that a feud between Shafiul Islam and his pro-Jamaat colleagues was a motive behind the killing.
On Sunday, police arrested the man believed to be the author of an Islamist website that claimed responsibility for the killing – Shariful Islam, teacher of Mostafizur Cadet Madrasa – and a student of class eight. Both were arrested in Bogra.
