Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested three persons during separate drives in Cox’s Bazar and Shariatpur on Wednesday night in connection with clashes between traders of New Market and students of Dhaka College last month.
Md Moazzem Hossain Sajib, 23, and Mehedi Hasan Bappi, 21, had been arrested on charges of instigating the clashes while Md Mahmudul Hasan Siam, 21, was arrested over the death of delivery worker Nahid Hossain, RAB Legal and Media Wing Director Commander Khandaker Al Moin said at a press conference on Thursday.
RAB central intelligence unit, RAB 2, and RAB 3 jointly conducted the drives, he added
Sajib and Bappi worked at the fast-food shop named Welcome in the New Market area.
Siam had attacked Nahid with a locally made weapon, the RAB official said.
The violence is traced back to an altercation between workers of two fast-food shops – Welcome and Capital –on April 18. Some students of Dhaka College also got involved in the altercation, which led to a fight.
The students, reportedly Chhatra League activists, returned to Dhaka College for reinforcements and launched an attack on the market at around midnight.
Police brought the situation under control after around two and a half hours, but the college students took to the streets and engaged in violent clashes with the traders and workers on the morning of April 19.
The mayhem continued throughout the day.
Nahid, a delivery man for an Elephant Road computer accessory store, sustained severe injuries in the violence. He died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital later that day.
A storekeeper named Mursalin was injured in the head by a brickbat thrown at him. He died at the same hospital on April 21.
Their families later filed two separate murder cases, both of which are being investigated by the Detective Branch (DB) of police.
RAB is conducting a shadow investigation of both murders.
The arrestees will, however, be handed over to the police, RAB said.
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Some six Dhaka College students have so far been arrested in connection with the murder of Nahid.
RAB also provided two videos where Sajib and Bappi were seen in the act during the clash between the two food shop workers.
Meanwhile, police are yet to track down Bashar Emon, a second-year student of the Bangla department of Dhaka College, who is the key accused in the case filed over Nahid’s death.
Five cases, including two murder cases, have been filed at New Market police station in connection with the clashes.
The law enforcers have also quizzed BNP leader Moqbul Hossain over his alleged involvement in the clashes.
Moqbul, who was arrested from his Dhanmondi residence on April 22, is the prime accused in one of the five cases.
