Cops contradict Rab claim on ‘Neo JMB’ chief’s ID

Contradicting Rab’s claim that it had identified Sarwar Jahan as the ameer of militant group “Neo JMB”, police today said he was a  third grade leader of the outfit.

Sarwar Jahan alias Abdur Rahman was in the lower ranks of the leadership after the “deputies” of the alleged mastermind of the Gulshan attack Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, DMP's Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit Monirul Islam told journalists.

Sarwar Jahan died after jumping off a five-storey building during a Rab raid in Ashulia on October 8.

“We had information and evidence was found too during investigation that he (Sarwar Jahan) mainly was a leader after the immediate level of the deputies of Tamim,” Monirul said while addressing the media at DMP media centre in Dhaka.

On October 21, Rapid Action Battalion Director General Benazir Ahmed said, “The real name of the Neo JMB ameer is Sarwar Jahan, known in the militant circle as Shaykh Abu Ibrahim Al-Hanif, Moktar, Prakash and Babu.”

“The real name of the Neo JMB ameer is Sarwar Jahan, known in the militant circle as Shaykh Abu Ibrahim Al-Hanif, Moktar, Prakash and Babu,” the Rab chief said at a press conference on that day.

But today, the police official said that they do not have any information or proof that Sarwar Jahan was the Neo JMB ameer.

“We will consider if any information is obtained through DNA test,” the DMP counter terrorism unit chief said.

Tavella Murder Case

Monirul today claimed that investigators of Italian citizen Cesare Tavella murder case filed the charge sheet based on evidence.

“The investigation was done by an investigating official who was assisted by a team of professionals with utmost importance,” he said.

Those people whose involvement were found, were implicated in the charge sheet, he added.       

A Dhaka court yesterday framed charges against seven people, including BNP leader MA Quayum and his brother Abdul Matin, in a case filed for killing Tavella.

Matin and four others, now in jail, pleaded not guilty and demanded justice after Judge Kamrul Hossain Mollah of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court read out the charges against them.

The Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, which investigated the murder case over the months, submitted the charge sheet on June 28 this year.

Tavella, 50, an aid worker, was killed in Dhaka's Gulshan Diplomatic Zone on September 28 last year. He worked as the project manager of Profitable Opportunities for Food Security (Proofs), a project of Netherlands-based organisation ICCO Cooperation.

'Tamim Chy contacted Major (retd) Jahid, Tanvir Kaderi'

“We have some documentary evidence that Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury communicated with militant suspects Major (retd) Jahidul Islam and Tanvir Kaderi,” the CTTC chief said while replying to a quarry.

Tamim was tracked down and killed along with two accomplices in the operation codenamed “Hit Strong 27” at their hideout in Paikpara of Narayanganj on August 27.

Law enforcers tracked down Tamim and alleged mastermind of Gulshan attack, Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury.

Jahid was killed during a police raid in Rupnagar of the capital on September 2.

Tanvir Kaderi, who killed himself during a September 10 raid on a militant den in Azimpur, donated all his money to “Neo JMB”. He had got the money selling his flat in Uttara, said police.