Shahinuddin Murder: Prime accused confesses, implicates ex-MP Awal

Sumon Bepari, prime accused in the Shahinuddin murder case, confessed to a magistrate yesterday that he hired 12 other goons to kill the trader at the direction of former lawmaker MA Awal.

Shahinuddin was killed in front of his seven-year-old son in the capital's Pallabi on May 16.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Debdash Chandra Adhikary recorded Sumon's confession after Inspector Syed Iftekhar Hossain of the Detective Branch of police brought the accused to his chamber, sources said.

The magistrate sent him to Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj after recording the statement.

Sumon told the magistrate that Awal had enmity with victim Shahinuddin over the land of a project since 2004. Failing to grab the victim's land, he planned to kill him.

Three or four days before Shahinuddin's murder, Awal drew out a blueprint for the killing at his office in Kalabagan in the presence of Sumon and Taher, another accused who is yet to be arrested.

The former lawmaker asked Sumon to hire 10-12 goons to execute the murder. In accordance with the instructions, Sumon hired the goons and had a meeting with them at Mirpur-12 on May 15, he told the magistrate.

As per the plan, Sumon and the others went to the spot in Mirpur-12 the next day, asking Shahinuddin to come and resolve the land dispute.

When Shahinuddin approached the scene around 4:00pm with his son, Sumon led the group of 10 to 12 persons who started to hack Shahinuddin indiscriminately with sharp weapons, killing him on the spot.

Sumon said in his confessional statement that he called Awal's on the phone after the murder and said, "Sir, finished".

Sumon also told the magistrate that Awal is mainly a property and land developer.

Under the former lawmaker's protection, Sumon and his group used to grab land and engage in other criminal activities. They were paid Tk 10,000 to Tk 12,000 a month by Awal.

They received additional sums for special tasks, Sumon told the magistrate.

Detectives arrested Sumon in Dhaka's Jatrabari area on May 19. He was later placed on a four-day remand.

On May 22, two other accused, Mohammad Murad and Rony Talukder, confessed before another magistrate.

On May 21, Awal, Zahirul Islam Babu and Nur Mohammad Hasan were each placed on a four-day remand.

On May 23, three other accused -- Mohammad Sharif, Iqbal Noor and Mohammad Tipu -- were also each placed on four-day remand.

Two other accused -- Monir and Manik -- were killed in a so-called gunfight with law enforcers.

On May 17, Aklima, the victim's mother, filed a case against 20 named and 13 to 14 other unnamed individuals with Pallabi Police Station.

Awal was a lawmaker from Lakshmipur-1.