No headway yet in investigation

Law enforcers are yet to make any arrest or find the motive for the killing of writer-publisher and former CPB leader Shahjahan Bachchu.

Shahjahan, 60, was shot dead on Monday evening near his house at Kakaldi under Madhyapara union of Sirajdikhan in Munshiganj. He was the owner of Bishaka Prokashani and former general secretary of Munshiganj district unit of Communist Party of Bangladesh.

Law enforcers said their focus of the investigation is on Shahjahan's writings on religious issues and feud between his two wives. 

“[His] writings against religion might be a major reason behind the killing”, but commenting on it requires a thorough investigation, Mohammad Zayedul Alam, superintendent of police (SP) in Munshiganj, told The Daily Star yesterday.

He also said they were hopeful to unearth the mystery of the killing soon as the district police, Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit, LIC (lawful interception) unit of Police Headquarters, Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) and the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) are investigating the killing.

There have been incidents of rivalry between the two wives of Shahjahan, who has two daughters with his first wife and a daughter and a son with his second wife, SP Zayedul said.

Shahjahan's first wife, an employee at social welfare ministry, has occupied his house in Dhaka while the second wife lives in Sirajdikhan of Munshiganj. The possession of his house in Dhaka is one of the reasons behind the feud between the two wives, he said. 

According to family sources, Shahjahan had another house at Tentulia in Panchagarh and he returned to his village home in Munshiganj last year after selling it for Tk 8 lakh.

The tension between the two wives escalated further as Shahjahan gave the money to his second wife, said police.

Militants might be involved in the killing, as speculated by Shahjahan's family members, but they are also looking into all other possibilities during the investigation, SP Zayedul said.

Durba Jahan, Shahjahan's daughter, said her father spoke about blogger killings with her on various occasions and feared that he might be a target of militants.

Shahjahan's second wife Afsana Jahan also said her husband often told her that he might be attacked by militants as he had been receiving death threats from militants.

A high police official said Shahjahan did not inform police of the death threats he had received over his “anti-religious” posts. If did, the incident could have been averted.