3 suspects held
Police yesterday arrested three persons from Mirpur in connection with the killing of housewife Ayesha Akter Ripa, who died two weeks ago when muggers in a microbus dragged her along the Mirpur road for snatching her handbag.
Police claimed they seized the microbus and recovered knives and four handbags snatched away from other women at different times.
The arrestees are Hemayet Hossain alias Himu, Abul Kalam and Alamgir Hossain alias Ratan.
The incident took place on October 28 near Sobhanbagh mosque when Ripa along with her friend was going to Lalmatia on a rickshaw early in the morning.
Himu pulled Ripa's handbag whose straps were fastened around her hand. Kalam was on the driver's seat. Ratan rented out the vehicle to the duo at Tk 2000 per hour, said police.
"The microbus belongs to a high official of a private bank. Ratan has been using it frequently and had plans to buy it," Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told journalists at a press briefing at DMP Media Centre yesterday.
A team of Dhanmondi police arrested the trio from Section 6 of Mirpur around 2:00am, he added.
Ripa's brother Rafsanzada Robi filed a case with Dhanmondi Police Station on October 29. But family members alleged that police had influenced Robi to leave out the crucial fact in the case.
Regarding how Ripa died, the case statement states: "Ripa fell down from a rickshaw on the road when muggers in a microbus snatched her handbag near Sobhanbagh mosque."
It omits the most horrific part of the crime that caused her death: the muggers' microbus dragged her from Sobhanbagh mosque to Rapa Plaza on Mirpur road.
Asked about the omission, Monirul said, "It will not be a barrier for the investigation". Detective Branch of Police is now investigating the grisly incident.
Ripa suffered injuries in the head and chest and died on way to the hospital. Marks of dragging were spotted in her hands, legs and back, morgue sources said.
Robi, while talking to The Daily Star, said he came to know from witnesses that muggers' in a microbus dragged her sister along the road.
He said he had narrated the dragging incident to Dhanmondi police before filing the case. “Police wrote down the statement and I signed on it,” he added.
His other sister Shahina Islam Rekha said, "Our family never faced such a situation before. My brother went to the police station alone. When he came back home, he said he had nothing to do except for signing on the case statement paper. My husband rebuked him for going alone to the police."
Contacted, Abu Bakar Siddique, officer-in-charge of Dhanmondi Police Station, refuted the claims.
Although he admitted to have prepared a draft of the case beforehand, he claimed that the case filed by the victim's brother had included solely his (Robi's) statements.
According to locals, security guards and vendors in the area, there has been a mugging spree on Mirpur road in recent months and the criminals mostly ride on cars or motorbikes, a fact corroborated by OC Siddique.
Locals and several security guards blamed lax police surveillance in the area, especially in the morning when many people arrive in Panthapath from different parts of the country and go to their houses.
"Police only showed their activities after the mugging. The woman [Ripa] could survive if they were active before the incident," said a security guard.
Another security guard, who saw Ripa being dragged by the vehicle, said, "I never saw such a horrific death in my entire life."
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