Iqbal Bahar Chowdhury alias Iqbailya, 33, a member of Chittagong city unit of BNP-backed JCD and a top terror, was accused in 20 criminal cases and awarded with 10-year imprisonment in one of them. He had been on the run for long.

Nazrul Islam Sweet, who was allegedly a gunman of former Awami League (AL) lawmaker Shamim Osman and a cadre of AL's youth front, stood accused in 17 cases including three for murder.

Sutrapur criminal Amir Abdullah alias Bullet, 26, faced charges in 12 cases, four of them for murder, and operative of outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP-ML) Abdul Mannan was accused in three cases including one for murder.

In all the four incidents, Rab and police sources said they opened fire in self-defence after associates of the criminals opened fire on them to snatch the criminals from their custody, a claim relatives of the killed dismissed saying those were planned murders.

CHITTAGONG
A Rab team arrested the absconding criminal after firefight with his gang at Patharghata at around 10:00 last night.

The Rab men were taking him to Fatehbad in Hathazari when Iqbailya's associates opened fire on them to snatch him, prompting them to retaliate.

Receiving several bullets, Iqbailya died on the spot.

The law enforcers said they recovered four sophisticated firearms from his possession.

NARAYANGANJ
Sweet was arrested in Munshiganj on November 22 and placed on Sunday in a three-day fresh police remand on completion of a five-day remand, our Narayanganj correspondent says.

"During interrogation yesterday, Sweet told us his revolver and several other firearms were in possession of his associates who often meet and stay at the abandoned house of one Zebunnesa at Amtoli of Shahi Mahalla in Fatulla," said Officer-in-Charge (OC) Shafiqullah of Fatulla Police Station.

Acting on his information, a joint team of Rab and police went to the house at 12:50am yesterday to recover the firearms and catch his associates, the OC said. "But they [Sweet's associates] opened fire on the police and Rab men in a bid to snatch him," he added.

"The joint team fired back in self-defence, triggering a gun battle that left Sweet dead on the spot," he said, adding that the other criminals managed to escape.

Constable Idris took a bullet in the chest and Constable Akram in the leg, he claimed.

The law enforcers seized two revolvers, six live and four spent bullets from the spot. Rab men reportedly fired 97 shots and police 35 during the shootout.

Two cases were filed with the police station in connection with the incident.

Sweet was found lying in a field with his hands tied back yesterday morning.

Locals said an announcement was made from a local mosque, minutes after they heard gunshots in the night, that robbers had raided several houses. Another announcement that followed shortly, however, asked people not to get out of their houses, saying Rab was conducting raids on the area. Local Union Parishad member Mohammad Ali went from door to door to tell the residents not to panic.

SWEET'S RISE TO NOTORIETY
Son of a day-labourer of Munshiganj, Sweet started off as a tea-stall boy in Chashara where he came in contact with top criminals of the region. He would carry their arms before becoming a cadre of Jatiya Party leader Nasim Osman, brother of AL lawmaker Shamim Osman, in 1996.

Sweet and his brothers Bhutto and Niazul fought a gun battle for Chashara group against Mission-para group that left two men killed.

The incident earned him notoriety and he started encroaching on pieces of land and extorting people in Chandmari, Shastapur, Isdair and adjacent areas.

He later joined as a gunman of Shamim Osman and afterwards took to jhut business. He grabbed a huge chunk of land at Chanmari slum and threw up a storehouse during the AL rule.

Also owner of at least three houses in the capital, Sweet allegedly tortured many slum women.

Like Sweet, his brothers Bhutto, Niazul and Ripon were also notorious criminals.

Sweet's 22-year-old son Suman said, "My father has been killed in a planned way, as he was an AL activist."

SUTRAPUR
Tipped off that Bullet is in possession of a great number of illegal firearms, a team of Rab-3 arrested and seized a revolver from him in front of his house at Rupchan Lal Das Lane at 11:30pm Sunday.

The Rab men said he along with local criminals Suman, Hannan, Bappa and Chhoto Gopal had been running a crime syndicate in the area for long.

Rab members said Bullet, during interrogation at the Rab-3 office, confessed to possessing several firearms and said those were kept at Bappa's house in the same area.

A Rab-3 team took him out to Rupchan Lal Das Lane to arrest his associates and seize the firearms minutes after 2:30am yesterday, the law-enforcers claimed.

"But as our team reached in front of Ittadi Department Store at 3:00am, his associates opened fire on our men, who had to reply to save themselves," a Rab-3 officer told The Daily Star last night, on condition of anonymity.

Bullet, who was at No. 76 on the list of criminals of Sutrapur Police Station, took two bullets in the chest and died on the spot.

While receiving his body from Mitford hospital morgue, Bullet's uncle Abdal Hossain claimed that Bullet was not a criminal and that Rab men killed him and later said he died in crossfire.

CHUADANGA
Alleged PBCP activist Mannan was arrested in his house at Hemayetpur village in Damurhuda upazila on Monday.

Police said he told investigators during interrogation that he had kept illegal firearms in a Gabindahuda field. Accordingly, police took him there at around 3:30am yesterday to seize the firearms, our Kushtia correspondent reports quoting sources.

The party cadres fired on the police in an attempt to snatch Mannan when they reached the field, police said. The law-enforcers returned fire in self-defence.

Mannan took three bullets in the head and died at the scene.

Police said they seized a shutter gun, three bullets and as many spent bullets.

Twenty-six people have been killed in 'crossfire' with Rab and the police in the restive southwestern region in the last six months.