Kamrul Murder
Family fears underhand dealings by police
Staff Correspondent
Family members of Kamrul Islam Momin, killed in front of his house at Kafrul in 2005, fear underhand dealings by police as they dropped the name of prime suspect OC AKM Rafiqul Islam from the charge sheet of the case. Momin's father Abdur Razzak had filed the murder case with Kafrul Police Station accusing then Motijheel Police Station officer in charge (OC) Rafiq and 25 others. In a press conference at Crime Reporters' Association in the city yesterday, the family members of Momin, a Commerce College student in Mirpur, rejected the charge sheet as the police dropped the names of OC Rafiq and 20 others -- primarily accused in the first information report (FIR). They also demanded measures for their security. Momin's family sources told The Daily Star that Rafiq's brother-in-law Shyamol had threatened them recently saying, "We will throw all of you out of your house when Rafiq comes out of jail." Momin's family members played a recorded video interview given to a private TV channel on September 26, 2005. During the interview, Jewel and Zia, self-proclaimed hired guns, told reporters at Rab 4 office that OC Rafiq had hired them to kill Momin. Momin, 18, was killed by a gang of criminals in front of his house at Kafrul when he was going to college on September 13, 2005. On October 16, 2005, prime accused Rafiq was sent to jail after he surrendered to a Dhaka court seeking ad interim bail in connection with the killing. He has been in jail custody ever since. After one year and eight months into the investigation, on May 13, 2007, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) pressed charges against seven people in the murder case. Abdur Razzak, Momin's father, urged the authorities concerned not to accept the charge sheet and demanded more investigation into the case by any other agency but the CID. Family members of Momin also urged the concerned authorities to ensure inclusion of OC Rafiq and other suspects in the charge sheet and conduct the case under Speedy Trial Tribunal.
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