Locals saw him, police couldn't
Police are yet to arrest Dewan Atiqur Rahman Akhi, a prime suspect in the October 30 attacks on Hindus in Brahmanbaria's Nasirnagar.
"We are looking for him. Our officials have already raided his house several times. He went into hiding, but we will arrest him soon," Shawkat Hossain, sub-inspector of Nasirnagar Police Station, said yesterday.
However, a number of locals yesterday said that they saw Akhi, chairman of Haripur union in Nasirnagar upazila, staying in his house and roaming freely in the area.
Iqbal Hossain, additional police superintendent in Brahmanbaria, told The Daily Star on Thursday that Jahangir Alam, 30, one of the arrestees accused of instigating the attacks, in his confessional statement before a magistrate said Akhi had hired vehicles to transport people to the rallies on the day of the attack.
Abu Zafar, officer-in-charge of Nasirnagar Police Station, said the Detective Branch of police in Brahmanbaria was investigating Akhi's alleged involvement as an organiser of the attacks.
Akhi's name would be included in the cases if he is found to be involved, he added.
Six cases have been filed in connection with the mayhem, but Akhi has not been named in any of them though victims and eyewitnesses say he played a key role.
Sources in the law enforcement agencies said they were unable to arrest Akhi as he has blessings of an “influential figure” in the district.
Police said they arrested around 100 people over the attack. But locals say many of them are innocent.
On October 30, hundreds of religious zealots launched a synchronised attack on six Hindu villages in Nasirnagar and vandalised 100 houses and 17 temples. They also looted whatever valuables they could find. Before the attack, they spread communal hatred for two days using a Facebook post on the wall of a Hindu fisherman's account.
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