Found microbus had been stolen: police
The microbus which was recovered with four bullet-hit bodies in Narayanganj recently had been stolen four days beforehand, police claimed yesterday.
A general dairy (GD) was also filed regarding the theft with Rampura Police Station in Dhaka, said Monirul Islam, assistant superintendent of police (administration) of Narayanganj.
That same evening some plainclothes men allegedly picked up three of the four from Purinda area in Narayanganj's Araihazar, according to family members.
The four bodies were found beside the road in Araihazar upazila on Sunday. They all bore bullet wounds in the back of their heads from a shotgun fired at close range, say autopsy reports.
The four are Faruk Hossain, 35, his friends Jahirul Islam, 24, and Sabuj Sarder, 24, of Pabna Sadar upazila and microbus driver Lutfor Mollah. Another youth, Liton Hossain, was also picked up, claimed family members. He is still missing.
ASP Monirul Islam said a smart registration card of the microbus was found inside the vehicle. The card bears the name of one Rafique.
Officer-in-Charge of Araihazar Police Station M Abdul Haq said microbus owner Rafique once called him to report the missing car. When police contacted him later, Rafique said the vehicle was stolen on October 17, and he filed a GD on October 19, the OC said, adding the phone has been found switched off since then.
Reshma Akter, wife of microbus driver Lutfor, said her husband left their Rampura home with the vehicle around 6:00pm on Friday. When she did not hear from him till 1:00am on Saturday, she filed a GD with Rampura Police Station later that day, she said.
Families claimed that the four were arrested by people identifying themselves as police.
Meanwhile, police formed a three-member committee, led by Additional Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Abu Kalam Siddique of Dhaka Range, to investigate the “negative news reports” published in newspapers regarding the deaths of the four “unidentified” men.
The committee was asked to submit an “objective report”, according to an order signed by Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, DIG, Dhaka Range.
Quoting family members, the media reported that four youths were picked up by plainclothes police and that the wife of one of the deceased men met him in police custody before they were found dead.
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