BCL leader’s death: Rab-2 CO withdrawn

The Commanding Officer of Rapid Action Battalion-2 was withdrawn today, a day into filing of a murder case over the death of a Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leader in alleged shootout.

Lt Col SM Masud Rana has been attached to the Rab headquarters following his withdrawal from the elite force’s unit No. 2 based in Hazaribagh in the capital, Rab Legal and Media Wing Director Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan told The Daily Star.

The CO has been withdrawn to ensure proper investigation into the matter, he addded. 

The family of Arzu Miah, a BCL leader accused of killing a teenager and later killed in a “gunfight” with Rab, filed the murder case with a Dhaka court yesterday accusing three Rab officials.

The Rab officials are Lt Col SM Masud Rana, commanding officer of Rab-2; Shahidur Rahman, deputy assistant director of Rab-2's Shia Masjid camp; and Inspector Wahid of the same camp.

Arzu's elder brother Masud Rana in the case filed with the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, also mentioned one Ratan, a Rab source, and three to four unnamed people.

Arzu, 28, was the prime accused in a case filed with Hazaribagh Police Station in connection with the killing of 16-year-old Raja Miah. Raja was beaten to death allegedly by Arzu and his associates on August 17 over claims that he had stolen a laptop and mobile phones.

He was killed in what the elite force termed “gunfight” in the capital's Hazaribagh on Tuesday.

Four leaders and activists of the AL and its associated bodies died in “shootouts” with the police and Rab between August 18 and August 21, much to the ruling party's concern.