Arrest of 3 Rab officers anytime: Minister

This April 30 file photo shows one of the seven bodies found on the river Shitalakkhya in Narayanganj is being pulled towards the shore. The photo was partly pixilated.

The three former Rab officials, who were sent into retirement following allegations of their link with the gruesome abduction and killing of seven persons in Narayanganj, will be arrested anytime, the state minister for home said today.

The procedure to arrest the three Rab men is underway, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said.

"We are complying with the High Court directive on arresting the Rab men," Kamal told journalists at his office in the Secretariat this afternoon.

Saying that the three are under constant surveillance, the minister added that the arrest would be made "anytime" following due legal procedures.

He came up with the statement a day after the High Court ordered the arrest of the three Rab officials who were pulled back to armed forces and later attached to the Log Area.

The court asked the inspector general of police to take steps to arrest the trio and hand them over to the detectives investigating the sensational case.

The three -- Lt Col Tareque Sayeed Mohammad, Maj Arif Hossain and Lt Commander SM Masud Rana -- were withdrawn from Rab-11 on April 29, two days after seven people were abducted in Narayanganj.

Tareque was the commanding officer of Rab-11 in Narayanganj when the abductions and killings took place.

He is the son-in-law of Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya. 

On April 27, Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam and his four aides and senior lawyer Chandan Sarker and his driver were kidnapped from Dhaka-Narayanganj link road around the same time in broad daylight. Six bodies, including that 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 Swapan, Tajul Islam, Liton, Jahangir and Ibrahim.

Nazrul's father-in-law Shahidul Islam on Sunday alleged that Rab men killed Nazrul in exchange for Tk 6 crore from ward councillor Nur Hossain, the prime accused, and other suspects. He later said a son of an influential AL lawmaker brokered the deal between Hossain and the Rab men.

Hearing a writ petition, the HC said the government sacking the Rab officials showed it might have had some information about their alleged complicity in the crime.

Therefore, they can be arrested on suspicion under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, if they are not already accused under the Penal Code or any other law.