Three ‘gunfights’ between members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and criminal gangs left three offenders dead in the capital, Meherpur and Barisal districts early yesterday.
The deceased are Abdullah Mohammad Nazimuddin alias Honda Babu, 30, of the city’s Malibagh Chowdhurypara, Durjoy Babu alias Bachchu, 36, of Gangni upazila in Meherpur and Al Amin, 35, of Bakerganj upazila in Barisal.
Honda Babu was a top listed criminal while Bachchu was a regional leader of outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP Marxist-Leninist) Lal Pataka faction and Al Amin was a suspected robber, stated Rab officials.
Rab-3 officials said a team of the force signalled three youths on a motorbike to halt at a check post near Outer Circular Road in the city’s Malibagh area around 4:00am.
Defying the signal, the youths opened fire on the law enforcers, compelling them to retaliate that left Babu dead on the spot.
The other two, however, fled the scene on the bike, they added.
Rab officials claimed Babu was a listed criminal of the area and also a close aide of fugitive top criminal Zisan.
He was accused in several cases, including killing and extortion, filed with different police stations. Several general diaries were also lodged against him.
His body was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for an autopsy.
Family members and relatives of Babu declined to make any comment on his death.
Our correspondent from Kushtia reports, a Rab team raided a sugarcane field in Jorpukuria village of Gangni upazila in Meherpur where Bachchu and his accomplices gathered around 6:00am.
As the Rab team approached the spot, the gang opened fire on the law enforcers, triggering a ‘gunfight’, said Assistant Superintendent of Police Sheikh Jahidul Islam of Rab-6.
Bachchu was killed in the ‘gunfight’ while his cohorts managed to flee.
Police recovered the bullet-hit body of the deceased from the field and sent it to Meherpur General Hospital morgue for post-mortem examination. Two guns were also recovered from the spot.
Police said Bachchu was accused in eight cases including murder, extortion and abduction.
Our Barisal correspondent adds, a team of Rab-8 raided the west end of Payerpur bridge in Bakerganj upazila, where a gang of robbers had gathered around 4:40am.
Seeing the members of the elite force, Al Amin and his cohorts opened fire prompting the Rab personnel to hit back.
At one stage of the ‘shootout’, Al Amin was hit by bullets and died on the spot while his accomplices fled.
The deceased was accused in 17 cases including extortion and robbery, said Syed Rabiul Islam, officer-in-charge of Bakerganj Police Station.
One foreign-made pistol, three bullets and a sharp weapon were also recovered from the spot.
