Bokhtiar Killing
No headway in investigation
Law enforcers were yet to make any headway into the murder of college student Bokhtiar Mohammad Latif. Police were quizzing the husband of a housemaid, employed at the victim’s residence, about the murder. A gang of about seven unidentified assailants had broken into the Jatrabari residence of Bokhtiar, aged about 20, and shot him dead in front of his parents around 3:00am on Friday.
Police, its Detective Branch and Rapid Action Battalion were investigating into whether it was an incident of burglary or a pre-planned murder.
“The victim’s father is a former organiser of Jatrabari thana unit of BNP. So we are looking into whether politics was the motive for the killing,” said Minhajul Islam, senior assistant commissioner (Demra) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
Family sources said the gang took away only four tolas of gold worth Tk1.8 lakh, although there was more in the room where Bokhtiar was shot.
Deceased’s uncle Mir Ahsan said they suspected that the thugs had been to the house previously as they made a beeline to the master bedroom occupied by Bokhtiar and his parents during the incident.
“The house has seven rooms and it is not easy to find out the one which had gold jewellery stored in it,” he noted.
Besides, police found it suspicious that the assailants avoided the room of Bokhtiar’s grandmother since she was known to have a buzzer fitted in her room for calling in security guards from a nearby petrol pump she owns.
Several security personnel are employed at the petrol pump to guard it round the clock.
Also, Latif’s dog died mysteriously about a month ago.
“A huge creature, the dog used to guard exactly the place in the backyard of the house through which the attackers had broken into. Around a month ago, the dog foamed at the mouth and dropped dead,” Bokhtiar’s father Jahid-al Latif told The Daily Star.
Victim’s cousin Mir Yeameen Zaiem, who had given him the pet, said the dog was only about five years old and had no health issues. “I suspect that it [dog] was poisoned. It had blood pouring out of its mouth and nostrils.”
Police were looking for an earth-laded truck which was seen moving around the house before the incident.
A case was lodged with Jatrabari Police Station in this connection.
-With The Daily Star input
