Md Shohidul Islam, a close associate of slain Narayanganj ward councillor Nazrul Islam, yesterday said they had caught a plainclothes RAB member at the court on April 27 for following Nazrul. But the police released him.
Shohidul told this to the probe body on the third day of public hearing held at Shiddhirganj Power Station in Narayanganj. After giving deposition, he spoke to reporters. He is also an accused in the case filed over the seven murders.
The witness said: “We were at the court to give attendance in a case. We sat on the corridor of the court. At one point, Tajul Islam [one of the seven victims] came to me and said ‘a man wearing pagri and kabuli is following Nazrul.’ Then we started to follow that man.
“When we were sure that the person was following Nazrul, we grabbed his hand and stopped him. He had a pistol on his waist.
“As we took him outside, the court police took him from us and talked to him. At that time, another RAB member with long beard came and spoke to the police members. The man was released subsequently,” Shohidul said.
“When we asked the police why they had released him, they said the man was a RAB special force member,” the witness claimed.
Like Shohidul, several hundred people gathered at the power station to testify on the incident. The seven-member investigation body started to record depositions around 10am.
Jafor, who was registering names of witnesses, told the Dhaka tribune last night: “A total of 314 people have registered their names so far to give deposition in the case. Of them, 198 people, mostly neighbours and relatives of the victims, submitted their depositions before the probe body by 5pm [yesterday].”
Shahjahan Hossain Molla, head of the investigation team, told reporters: “We will record depositions of the civil society members from 3pm tomorrow [today] and of the rest who have registered their names today [yesterday].”
Replying to a query, member of the probe body Mustafizur Rahman said: “We will record depositions of everyone we need. We will also take depositions of the RAB members, if needed.”
