'Drug trader' killed in 'gunfight'
An alleged drug peddler was killed in a “gunfight” with the Rapid Action Battalion in Patuakhali early yesterday.
While law enforcers claim that an exchange of fire took place between them and a gang when Tariqul Islam Taru, 30, came in the line of fire, his wife alleges that he went missing before the alleged gunfight.
Taru, of Charpara in the district town, was an accused in at least 10 criminal cases, said police and Rab officials.
His wife Rekha Begum said her husband left home for Barisal at noon on July 17 and remained missing since then. She filed a general diary (GD no-810) with Patuakhali Police Station four days later in this regard.
“My husband was shot dead. There was no gunfight,” she told The Daily Star at Patuakhali Medical College morgue where the body had been taken for an autopsy.
The version given by Rab is different.
Fazlur Rahman, company commander at Patuakhali Rab camp under Rab-8, said a Rab patrol team found a gang of around 10 to 12 members in Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation area around 4:00am.
When they advanced towards them, gang members opened fire. Rab men then fired back. At one stage, the gang members fell back and fled, the Rab official added.
Law enforcers then recovered Taru's bullet-hit body from the spot. He was taken to Patuakhali Medical College Hospital where he was declared dead, Rahman said.
The deceased received a bullet on the left side of his forehead, said Tariqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Patuakhali Police Station.
Rab claimed that they had recovered two pistols, two locally made firearms, 20 bullets and over 600 bottles of phensedyl from the spot.
The OC Tariqul said Taru was an accused in three murder cases. The other cases were linked with robbery, extortion, snatching and theft.
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