Arrested JMB man 'confesses killing'

Arrested Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh leader Tariqul Islam Tareque himself slew former Power Development Board chairman Khijir Khan for religious and ideological differences, detectives claimed yesterday.

At least eight JMB operatives divided into two groups entered Khijir's home at Madhya Badda on October 5 and Tareque killed him with the help of his cohorts, claimed Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

Tareque was arrested in Tangail on Wednesday and Alek Bepary, a driver by profession, was captured in Mirpur of Dhaka the same day in connection with the murder case. Alek was allegedly the driver for the JMB operatives that day. 

During a press briefing at the DMP media centre, Monirul claimed that the duo admitted to killing Khijir as “they believed it was their religious obligation to kill Khijir since pirs' (spiritual leaders') activities are contradictory to Islamic norms”.  

The other reason was to loot the house for terror financing, he said.

"The group was involved in similar missions for around two years," Monirul claimed, but could not say how many people they had killed.

Monirul claimed that the DB had recovered a piece of paper with name of a pir on it. "The man was their next target," the DMP spokesperson said, but did not disclose the name.

The DB official said Tareque was arrested in 2005 in connection with a bomb blast case and had served five years in jail. After release, he started to regroup the banned militant outfit. 

Replying to a query, Monirul said police believed that the JMB men were behind the six murders in Gopibagh, in which a pir was killed, and in the killing of Nurul Islam Faruqi, chief imam of Supreme Court mosque and also the international affairs secretary of Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat. However, they were yet to confirm whether the group was involved in those murders.

Monirul claimed that the group works under the command of a JMB faction led by Faruk, who allegedly masterminded the Trishal prison van ambush in Mymensingh.

The JMB men had snatched away three top JMB leaders, killing a cop in the ambush on February 23 last year. Later on, one of them was killed in “crossfire”. 

He claimed that the JMB operatives arrested in Chittagong, with grenades and a huge amount of explosives, and the ones detained in Pabna, for attempting to kill pastor Luke Sarkar, were members of this particular JMB faction.

One of the JMB leaders arrested in Chittagong, Md Sujan alias Babu, reportedly admitted to his involvement in the murders of pir Rahamat Ullah, who was popularly known as Lyangta Fakir, and his assistant Khadem Abdul Kader in Bangla Bazar area of Chittagong city on September 5.   

Even though Khijir's family claimed that the killers used a firearm to keep the family members hostage before murdering the PDB chief, Monirul quoting the arrestees said they did not use any firearms. 

TWO ON REMAND

A Dhaka court yesterday placed each of the two suspects on a three-day remand in connection with the case filed for the killing Khijir Khan.

A magistrate passed the order after police produced them before the court with a 10-day remand prayer for each.

No lawyer stood to defend them.

The police did not mention that they were JMB members in their remand prayers.

Claiming themselves innocent, the arrestees told the court that they were framed for the killing.