REAZUL MURDER
Another suspect in hiding: lawmen
The whereabouts of Shakhawat Hossain Chanchal, who on Wednesday was expelled from the Juba League for his suspected involvement in the killing of Juba League leader Reazul Haque Khan Milky early Tuesday, could not be traced till Thursday, law enforcement officials and party leaders said.
They said that the ‘mystery’ of the killing of Reazul and the sacked Juba League city (south) unit joint secretary HM Jahid Siddique Tarek, also the prime suspect of the killing, and his alleged associate Shah Alam being killed in ‘crossfire’ subsequently could be cracked after the arrest of Shakhawat Hossain, who was removed as the organising secretary of the Juba League’s Dhaka city (north) unit.
Chanchal’s family Mohammadpur in the capital also said that he could not be reached after the killing of Rezaul.
Party leaders said that Chanchal either was arrested by law enforcers or he had gone into hiding.
The RAB 1 commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Kismat Hayat, claimed that they were also looking for Chanchal. ‘He is very clever and may have gone into hiding to avoid being arrested.’
After preliminary investigations, the investigators claimed that they found Tarek along with his associates shooting Reazul to death in front of the Shoppers’ World at Gulshan early Tuesday.
Tarek was arrested along nine others. He remained admitted to Fortune Hospital after being ‘injured with bullets.’
But the prime suspect Tarek and his associate Shah Alam were killed in ‘crossfire’ with the battalion at Kawla in the capital on Wednesday night.
Battalion officials claimed that the ‘crossfire’ had taken place in a dark place on the Airport Road between the
Airport crossing and the Khilkhet bus stand about 10:00pm when a group of 12 to 14 miscreants, led by Shah Alam, tried to take away Tarek from the battalion custody on the their way to the Gulshan police station from the hospital at Uttara on Wednesday.
After the crossfire incident, executive magistrate Asaduzzaman completed the inquest report on Tarek early Thursday and another magistrate prepared the inquest report on the young man the battalion identified as Shah Alam.
After the post-mortem examination, Tarek’s brother SM Mahbubur Rahman Siddique, also an income tax official, received the body but he declined comments.
Others family members could not be reached as they had left their apartment at Eskaton after the killing of Reazul.
But Shah Alam’s brother Nur Alam, who is from Gopalganj, told New Age on Thursday evening that his brother had been missing for 10 days.
Nur, however, could not say nothing more as he started crying at Dhaka Medical College morgue after the identification of the body.
A day after the request to the home ministry, the battalion, meanwhile, has been given the charge of the investigation of the killing.
The battalion’s media and legal wing director Wing Commander ATM Habibur Rahman told New Age, ‘We have already assigned an officer from RAB 1 to begin the investigation.’
The six accused, who in police custody for interrogation for seven days, would be placed in the battalion custody for interrogation.
‘The accused will, if required, be interrogated again on completion of their current remand in custody,’ the battalion’s spokesperson said.
Reazul’s brother major Rashedul Haque Khan, also a former battalion official in Barisal but now serving in the Comilla cantonment, filed a case with the Gulshan police on Tuesday night accusing 11 people of killing Reazul.
Rashedul accused Tarek, 35, Tuhinur Rahman, Syed Mostafa Ali, Md Russel Mahmud, Saidul Islam alias Nuruzzaman, Mohammad Sujan Hawlader, Md Sakhawat Hossain Chanchal, Md Sohel, Md Jahangir Mandal, Jahidul Islam Tipu and Arif, all related involved with the ruling Awami League.
The battalion has so far arrested 10, people including three physicians, who helped Tarek to get treatment at Fortune Hospital.
After preliminary interrogations, the battalion claimed that Tarek and Chanchal were the prime suspects in the murder.
After the killing and the subsequent ‘crossfire,’ intelligence officials said that the fresh polarisation was taking placing in underworld in the capital at the fag end of the current tenure of the Awami League-led government.
Some party insiders, however, said that they were still in dark about the killing and the influential Juba league leaders, who apparently were backed by the two influential groups, being killed in ‘crossfire.’ Most leaders close to both Reazul and Tarek remained silent to head off trouble and others were unwilling to go on the records.
Senior Awami League leaders and cabinet members, however, gave contradictory statements on Tarek being killed in ‘crossfire.’
Minister without portfolio Suranjit Sengupta on Thursday criticised the extra-judicial killing and said that the ruling Awami League had never supported extrajudicial killings.
The latest incident took to 42 the number of people killed in extrajudicial incidents such as ‘crossfire,’ ‘gunfight’ or ‘encounter’ this year.
At least 398 people have so far fallen victim to extrajudicial killing by law enforcers since January 6, 2009 when the government assumed office with a commitment to end extrajudicial killing.
Referring to the killing of two people, including the prime suspect in the Reazul killing case, Suranjit said that before the elections, such extrajudicial killing would help the opposition camp to use it in propaganda against the Awami League-led government.
The environment and forest minister, Hasan Mahmud, also the Awami League’s publicity secretary, however, defended the battalion’s statement on Tarek being killed in ‘crossfire.’
Courtesy of New Age
