7 gang members remanded

A Dhaka court yesterday placed seven arrestees on three-day remand among the eight members of local youth gangs held by the Rapid Action Battalion over the sensational killing of ninth-grader Adnan Kabir in the capital's Uttara.

Shahin Mia, a sub-inspector of Uttara West Police Station and investigation officer (IO) of the murder case, prayed to the metropolitan magistrate to remand each for 10 days.

The remanded are Shahriar Bin Sattar Shetu, 22, Akhtaruzzaman Chhoton, 19, Shahinur Rahman, 17, Selim Khan, 23, Ibrahim Hossain Sunny, 28, Mizanur Rahman Sumon, 22, and Jahidul Islam Juice, 21.

In primary interrogation three were found to have been directly involved in the killing, but police will quiz all of them for more information, said Officer-in-Charge Ali Hossain Khan.

An eighth member, Ramjan Mobarak, 17, was cleared from this case and handed over to police in a drugs case, he said.

A Rab-1 team conducted the drive in Uttara on Tuesday night and picked up the leaders and members of “Disco Boys” and “Big Boss” groups. The arrestees were handed over to Uttara West police on Wednesday night.

Apart from the eight, police earlier arrested six people in connection with the murder. Four of them confessed in court to the killing, said police.

A student of Uttara's Trust School, Adnan was attacked with a knife on January 6, allegedly by rival gangs. The critically injured schoolboy was rushed to an Uttara hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

Victim's father Kabir Hossain filed the murder case with Uttara West Police Station, accusing nine people and 10-12 others unnamed.

Earlier, Rab said some teenage gangs in Uttara were caught up in a feud on January 3 when some members of “Disco Boys” and “Big Boss” groups beat up Raju, the leader of “Nine Star” group. Two days later, members of “Nine Star” group retaliated, assaulting “Big Boss” leader Chhoton.

On January 6, "Big Boss" and "Disco Boys" pounced on "Nine Star" men and Adnan came under attack during the incident while Raju fled, said police.