Investigators have found that corrupt officials and employees of Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) were involved in the May 11 murder of GCC executive engineer Md Delwar Hossain.
According to them, Delwar was premeditatedly killed by corrupt contractors working in the city corporation area.
Police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have already detained four people in connection with the murder. However, some other suspects have also gone into hiding.
According to the investigators, Delwar was transferred to GCC in 2015 from Narayanganj City Corporation and was assigned as the regional engineer of Konabari area in Gazipur.
A major development work of road construction under his planning and supervision took place afterwards.
At the time, Delwar played a strong role in evicting local influential grabbers from the city corporation's land, for which theses people, who also have major political influence, disliked and opposed him.
According to sources close to the murder investigation, several contractors wanted to withdraw their money without completing the development work, but Delwar did not let that happen.
The contractors also pressured him to increase the scheduled work bill, which Delwar did not agree to even after being offered a huge bribe.
Afterwards, in September last year, Delwar was made an officer on special duty (OSD), which allegedly happened due to the lobbying of the corrupt and influential contractors.
But about five months later, in February, he was reassigned to the Konabari area in the same post. This time again, he faced pressure from several of the local contractors, police said.
“We have got some information about the murder incident and are now interrogating two people. Delwar was killed in a well-planned manner. Hopefully, we will be able to unravel the murder mystery soon," RAB 1 Company Commander Lt Abdullah AL Mamun said.
Family living in fear
Delwar's wife Khadiza Akhter said some contractors were angry at her husband for not allowing them to have their way with the projects. They were also backed by some local councillors, she alleged.
She alleged that a GCC office assistant named Selim has been openly opposing her husband, and has ties to the corrupt contractors who tried to bribe Delwar.
“Delwar faced many problems for being an honest officer and that is why the corrupt group of contractors had him killed. We are now living every moment in fear,” Khadiza said.
She also alleged that almost all employees in Delwar’s office are in the pockets of these contractors.
“Several contractors tried to bribe to Delwar several times through his colleagues, including Selim. Delwar often told me that he had complained to the city mayor [Md Zahangir Alam] about these issues."
“The mayor assured him that if he continued working, there will be no problem. But even after the mayor's assurance, my husband was killed because of these corrupt men,” Khadiza added.
Mayor Zahangir was unavailable for comments.
Case details
On May 11, police recovered Delwar's body, bearing head injuries, from Diabari Beribadh area under Turag police station.
Family members later identified his body at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College morgue in Dhaka's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.
Delwar was preparing to go to the office that morning in the office vehicle which he used everyday. But that day, a new car and new driver had picked him up from his Mirpur house.
He was later found dead in that same vehicle. His family filed a murder case the same day with Turag police.
The father of three sons was later buried at his village home in Kazirhat, Noakhali.
Turag police Officer-in-Charge Md Nurul Muttakin said: “We have not officially arrested anyone yet. However, we are interrogating some people. Nothing can be said before the investigation is complete.”
Delwar was a student of the 86th batch of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet).
Former and current students of Buet have also demanded justice for Delwar.
