BNP leader Quayum the 'big brother'
Dhaka city BNP leader MA Quayum is the “Boro Bhai” who was behind the September 28 murder of Cesare Tavella, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told The Daily Star last night.
The minister's comment came a day after Dhaka Metropolitan Police said three youths took part in the killing of the Italian in the capital's diplomatic zone. Without disclosing his name, the police also said a “Boro Bhai” hired the three to kill any white man living in the country.
At the media briefing on Monday, police paraded four youths, including the “three hitmen”, they claimed were arrested from Badda and Gulshan areas on Sunday.
Earlier yesterday, talking to reporters at his office, the home minister said the planners of the murder were under watch and that he would soon brief the media about this.
“Of the planners, those who are still in the country are under surveillance. Our foreign ministry and the Interpol will work to bring back those who are abroad.”
Later at night, the minister told a number of media outlets that probe has found MA Quayum to be the “Boro Bhai” about whom law enforcers have been talking about. He, however, said he would make an official statement later.
Talking to the press on Monday, DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia said Tavella murder, which made headlines in local and foreign media, was part of a conspiracy to create anarchy, put pressure on the government and send a message to foreigners that they are not safe in Bangladesh.
He also said Tavella, a project manager of Netherlands-based NGO, was not the specific target.
Quayum, ex-ward commissioner from Badda and a joint convener of Dhaka city BNP, left the country on April 28, the day elections to Dhaka North and Dhaka South city corporations were held, said family and party sources.
Since then he has been staying either in Malaysian or in Dubai. He also often visited London.
Talking to The Daily Star from Malaysia last night, Quayum said the government wants to make him a “scapegoat” branding him as the so-called “Boro Bhai”.
He also alleged that the government was staging another “Joj Mia drama” as seen during the tenure of BNP government centring the investigation of August 21 grenade attack.
In 2005, Joj Miah, a petty criminal, was falsely implicated and the Criminal Investigation Department obtained his “confessional statement” in the grenade attack case.
Yesterday, family members claimed Quayum's brother MA Matin was picked up by a group of plainclothes cops on October 20 from in front of his Madhya Badda residence.
Police, however, rejected the claim.
“I fear police will not admit arresting my brother until they extract his confession that I had sent him money to carry out the killing,” Quayum said.
According to party sources, Quayum is considered one of the trusted party colleagues of BNP Chief Khaleda Zia. He was assigned by the BNP high-ups to make “big contributions” to the opposition's anti-government movement in late 2014.
He is accused in a number of cases filed with Badda Police Station, said its officer-in-charge.
Matin, however, has no affiliation with BNP or any other political party. A deputy managing director of Navid Woolwears Limited, he has no cases filed against him, said the family.
Talking to this newspaper, Matin's wife Dilruba last night said three to four people picked up her husband around 7:45pm on October 20 while he was preparing to go to mosque for prayers.
“Without saying anything or giving my husband any opportunity to talk with us, police took him away by a microbus,” she added.
“We went to the local police station and higher authorities of the law enforcement agencies to know whereabouts of my husband. But none admitted picking him up. With my two children, I have been passing my days in great anxiety,” a weeping Dilruba added.
Earlier, a lead investigator had hinted that the Tavella murder mastermind could be from BNP-Jamaat alliance and they have found a top Jamaat leader linked with the murder plan.
“There were different layers involved in the implementation of the plan. This tactic was followed so that police cannot reach the mastermind,” the investigator added.
At the lowest tier was the so-called “Boro Bhai” who hired three killers for a certain amount of money.
Police on Monday said three of the four arrested -- Tamjid Ahmed alias Rubel alias Shooter Rubel, Russell Chowdhury alias Chakki Russell and Minhazul Arifin Russell alias Bhagne Russell -- directly took part in the shooting.
One of the trio claimed the contract was settled at Tk 7 lakh while another said it was Tk 15 lakh, according to an official, who could not say what figure the third one gave.
Police also arrested Shakhawat Hossian alias Sharif, whose motorbike was used by the alleged killers.
'RUBEL TORTURED'
Rubel made a confessional statement before a magistrate on Monday evening, court sources said. His family members yesterday alleged that he was tortured to make the confession and they came to know this when they met him at the jail gate.
Rubel's uncles Mainuddin Ahmed Touhid and Mamun Khan told this correspondent that four of their family members met him at the jail gate yesterday and talked to him for about 20 minutes.
Rubel told them that cops tortured him and forced him to give scripted deposition in the Tavella killing case. Touhid alleged his nephew was unable to walk normally.
According to the family members, detectives in plainclothes picked up Rubel on October 12 evening from Badda link road area. He had remained missing since then. The family filed a general diary regarding this with Badda Police Station on October 21.
Contacted, DB Inspector Zeahad Hossain, investigation officer of the case, denied the allegations.
Meanwhile, locals at Badda, the neighbourhood of the arrestees, said the youths are druggies. The four are known to each other and involved in BNP politics.
According to family members, Bhagne Russell and Sharif were a bit mentally imbalance after their wives left years ago.
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