Pallabi Trader Murder: Accused killed in ‘gunfight’ with Rab

An accused in trader Shahinuddin murder case was killed in a "gunfight" with Rapid Action Battalion in Eastern Housing area of the capital's Pallabi early yesterday.

Deceased Manik, 32, was directly involved in the killing of the trader on May 16 in front of his seven-year-old son, said Rab.

Meanwhile, a Dhaka court yesterday placed former lawmaker MA Awal (Lakshmipur-1), the prime accused in the case, and two other accused Zahirul Islam Babu and Md Hasan on four-day remand each for interrogation.

The Rab arrested Awal from Bhairab in Kishoreganj early Thursday. It claimed that Awal planned the murder with Taher and Sumon at his office in the capital's Kalabagan four to five days before the incident.

According to the elite force, Sumon, who led a group of assailants, called Awal after the killing and said: "Sir, finished".

Yesterday, the court placed the three accused on remand after investigation officer Syed Iftekhar Hossain, also an inspector of the Detective Branch of police, produced them before it seeking 10-day remand for each, said court sources.

The Rab arrested Zahirul from Patuakhali on Thursday and Hasan from Chandpur on Wednesday.   

Awal is a former secretary general of Bangladesh Tarikat Federation, a component of the Awami League-led 14-party alliance. He was later sacked from his party. He was elected lawmaker in the 2014 general elections.

Awal had planned the murder following a feud with Shahinuddin and his family over a piece of land in the capital's Ali Nagar where the former MP is implementing a land development project, said Rab.

Sumon was tasked with executing the murder plan. Led by him, a team of 10-12 people, including Monir, Manik, Hasan, Iqbal, and Murad, directly took part in the killing mission. Several others were around the killing spot.

Shahinuddin was asked to go to Mirpur Section-12 on the pretext of resolving the land dispute. The assailants hacked him indiscriminately with sharp weapons, leaving him dead on the spot. Monir and Manik continued hacking the victim till death, according to Rab.

A CCTV camera installed nearby recorded the incident. Footage of the murder created a stir on social media after it went viral.

On May 17, victim's mother Aklima Begum filed the murder case against 20 named and 13 to 14 unnamed accused with Pallabi Police Station.

Law enforcers have so far arrested seven of the accused.

'GUNFIGHT'

Mozammel Haque, commanding officer of Rab-4, said their patrol team rushed to Eastern Housing area around 2:30am yesterday on information that a group of armed criminals gathered there.

"As the patrol team reached there, criminals opened fire on the team members who were forced to return shots for their safety," Mozammel told The Daily Star.

After eight to 10 minutes, the criminals fled the area. The Rab members then searched the spot and found one lying on the ground with bullet wounds.

Rupnagar police went to the spot and sent the injured to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital where doctors declared him dead.

The Rab-4 CO said they took fingerprints of the man and using technology  came to know that the dead was Manik. Police and locals identified him as an accused in Shahinuddin murder case.

The Rab claimed to have recovered a pistol and two bullets from the spot.