Cops in cantonment to arrest 2 ex-Rab officials
Police early today launched a raid in Dhaka Cantonment area to arrest two of the three Rab officials fired over alleged involvement in Naryanganj seven-murder.
Narayanganj police yesterday said they had stepped up their move to arrest Lt Col Tareque Sayeed Mohammad and Maj Arif Hossain after receiving the defence ministry letter that said there was no legal bar to arresting them.
Originally from the army, the two were on deputation in Rab-11 in Narayanganj.
Khandaker Mahid Uddin, Narayanganj police superintendent, said they did not receive any letter regarding Lt Commander SM Masud Rana, who had been deputed from the navy.
Cops' operation was going on as of 4:00am today.
Lt Col Tareque, Maj Arif and Lt Commander Masud were forced to retire on May 6 over their reported link to last month's abduction and killing of seven people, including Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam and senior lawyer Chandan Sarker.
The trio are not accused in the case filed by Nazrul's widow, but the High Court on May 11 ordered the inspector general of police to "immediately" nab them as suspects.
The court order came after Nazrul's family alleged that Rab men committed the crime in exchange for Tk 6 crore from Nur Hossain, the prime accused, and other suspects.
Meanwhile, victims' family members and common people in Narayanganj became frustrated as police were yet to comply with the court order.
Sakhawat Hossain, president of Narayanganj District Lawyers Association, alleged the police were showing reluctance to arrest the Rab men and other accused in the case.
On April 27, Nazrul and his four aides and Chandan and his driver were kidnapped from the Dhaka-Narayanganj link road around the same time in broad daylight.
Six bodies, including those of Nazrul and Chandan, were found floating in the Shitalakkhya river on April 30, and another was found the following day. The other victims are Moniruzzaman Swapan, Tajul Islam, Liton, Jahangir and Ibrahim.
More than two weeks on, police have failed to arrest any of the six accused, but nabbed 21 suspects.
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