Another army officer’s body identified, BDR soldiers who did not return are now fugitives
Staff Correspondent
As the Operation Rebel Hunt enters the fourth day, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) started interrogating five BDR mutiny suspects including suspected ringleader Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) Syed Towhidul Alam after a Dhaka court had placed them on a seven-day remand yesterday.
The other suspects being grilled are DAD Abdur Rahim, Habilder Azad Ali, Nayek Mohammad Firoj Ahmed, and Jawan Zakir Hossain.
Meanwhile, another victim of the mutiny was identified in Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) morgue yesterday, by matching of fingerprints provided by the victim’s family members and colleagues. The victim is now identified as Lt Col Elahi Manzoor Chowdhury.
With the identification of Lt Col Elahi, only two bodies of victims remain to be identified in DMCH morgue, which were recovered from a mass grave in Pilkhana.
Twelve family members of five missing army officials yesterday gave samples of their blood and saliva to the DNA testing lab of DMCH. DNA tests are being carried out to identify the two remaining unidentified bodies kept in the morgue.
“I hope we will be able to complete the tests in seven days,” chief of the lab, Sharif Akhteruzzaman, told reporters yesterday.
Till filing of this report late last night, 74 bodies of victims were recovered including of 55 army officers who had been in the service at the time of their slaying.
The two investigation committees, formed by the government and the army, visited BDR Pilkhana Headquarters yesterday.
CID investigators collected some more evidence from the crime scenes all day long, but none in the probe committees and investigation teams disclosed anything to the media about the findings.
Fire Service and Civil Defence personnel also continued their search for missing army officers in Pilkhana sewers.
REMAND OF FIVE MUTINY SUSPECTS
Our court correspondent reported that five suspects including Towhidul Alam, arrested by Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) the day before, were produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s (CMM) court yesterday afternoon in bullet-proof vests and helmets with their hands cuffed behind their backs.
Metropolitan Magistrate Abdur Rahim sent them to a ten-day remand.
No lawyer appeared for the defendants during the hearing of the remand prayer by CID.
During the hearing, Nayek Firoj told reporters that he was not arrested, rather he surrendered, while Habildar Azad Ali said he was arrested from Rangpur on February 27.
Of the five arrested suspects, DADs Towhid and Rahim are mentioned as principal accused in the case.
FUGITIVES
BDR personnel who did not report back to their stations within the stipulated time announced by the government, will be considered fugitives and will not be allowed to enter the BDR headquarters until they are proven innocent.
As the Operation Rebel Hunt goes on across the country many BDR personnel, who had not returned to their stations within the deadline, began thronging police stations and the BDR headquarters out of fear yesterday.
“I will not allow those to enter the headquarters, who did not return within the deadline. Our job does not tolerate violation of discipline,” BDR Director General Brig Gen Md Mainul Islam told The Daily Star.
“In my view they are fugitives, as they violated the code of conduct of their profession. Now they may either surrender to police stations, or get caught in the Operation Rebel Hunt. They will be allowed to enter the headquarters once they are proven innocent,” Mainul added.
The BDR DG yesterday also issued a notice for all sector commanders and acting sector commanders to attend a combined meeting at 9:00am on March 8 in Shena Kunjo of Dhaka Cantonment.
He, however, could not confirm how many of the deserters are still out, as many of them returned to respective units across the country.
The 6,124 returnee BDR personnel so far allowed to enter the BDR compound are tasked with jobs of sweeping the compound except the crime scenes.
Meanwhile, uncertainty looms large over family members of BDR personnel, who accompanied the returnee deserters to Dhaka from different parts of the country. They are waiting outside the headquarters to know the current status of their family members inside Pilkhana compound.
Besides, about 100 BDR personnel who had been on different types of leave, before the mutiny started, thronged the headquarters yesterday to join back.
Sources said, they were kept waiting outside the headquarters till filing of this report.
Courtesy of www.thedailystar.net
