Get PBI to probe Duronto murder: family

The family members of deceased Awami League leader Duronto Biplob yesterday urged the Inspector General of Police to assign the Police Bureau of Investigation to probe the murder.

"We think my brother's murder was planned and that is why he was killed so brutally. So, I submitted an application to the IGP's office to transfer the case to the PBI which is a specialised investigation unit," said Duronto's younger sister Shashwatee Biplob.

Shashwatee filed a murder case with South Keraniganj Police Station on November 14. A sub-inspector of the River Police was tasked with the investigation immediately after the case was filed.

Contacted yesterday, Sub-Inspector Shahjahan said police could neither recover Duronto's phone nor arrest anyone in this connection.

Duronto's body was found floating in the Shitalakkhya river in Pagla area of Narayanganj's Fatullah on November 12, five days after he went missing. There was a severe injury to the back of his head and there were several injury marks on his chest.

He was the general secretary of Jahangirnagar University Chhatra League. His last location was tracked to Kamrangirchar in Dhaka.

Wishing anonymity, at least two policemen involved in the investigation, said they had heard that a man fell in the river after a dinghy carrying him and a few others struck a bulk carrier between Suwari Ghat from Jinjira on November 7 afternoon.

One of them said police were looking for a boatman named Shamsu who might have been rowing the dinghy at the time.

Shashwatee, however, said it was very unlikely that Biplob died in an accident. "Had there been an accident, people would have rescued my brother. The people of Bangladesh would not let a man drown before their eyes."

She further said if someone went missing after the accident, people would have informed the police. "We went to the River Police of the area. They said they had not heard of any such accident," she told The Daily Star.

The investigators should look into whether local criminal groups have anything to do with this as crime is high in the area, she said.

Meanwhile, slain Buet student Fardin Noor Parash's father Kazi Nuruddin Rana yesterday demanded fair trial "for the murders of Duronto and my son" at a human chain organised on Dhaka University campus by Nongar Bangladesh, Swadhinata Uddyan Sangskritik Jote, and Bandhumahal.

Family members of the victims participated in the demonstration.

At Jahangirnagar University, teachers and students of dramatics department demonstrated demanding proper investigation into Biplob's death.

Bangabandhu Teachers Association of the university also condemned the murder and demanded a fair investigation.