'Boro Bhai' offered Tk 5 lakh

One of the four youths arrested last month in the Tavella murder case told a magistrate yesterday that MA Matin, younger brother of a BNP leader, is the “Boro Bhai”, who hired him for Tk 5 lakh to shoot and injure any foreigner in the capital's Gulshan to create panic in the area.

In his confessional statement, Russell Chowdhury alias “Chakki” Russell said their aim was to shoot and injure a foreigner, not to kill, according to court sources. 

Police had earlier claimed that the “Boro Bhai” (big brother) contacted Russell and two other youths to do the job, and the trio directly took part in the killing of Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella in the capital's diplomatic zone on September 28.

The other two are Tamjid Ahmed alias “Shooter” Rubel and Minhazul Arifin Russell alias “Bhagne” Russell.

They were arrested on October 25 along with Shakhawat Hossian alias Sharif whose motorbike was used for killing Tavella, said police.

All four arrestees gave confessional statements under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Of them, only Sharif did not admit to his involvement in the murder.

On Wednesday, the Detective Branch of police arrested Matin at Benapole border while he was trying to leave the country.

Earlier, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal had told The Daily Star and several other media outlets that Matin's elder brother MA Quayum, Dhaka city BNP joint convener and former BNP-backed ward commissioner, is the “Boro Bhai”. He, however, retracted his statement the following day.

“CHAKKI” RUSSELL'S STATEMENT

The arrestee said he knew Matin, a contractor, since 2001, and worked for him.

Matin called him several days before the September 28 incident and told him that he would have to do a job for him.

When Russell met Matin, he asked him to shoot and injure any foreigner in Gulshan area, not to kill.

Matin offered him Tk 5 lakh for the job and gave him Tk 50,000 in advance. He also assured Russell of paying the rest of the amount once the job is done.

“Chakki” Russell then hired “Shooter” Rubel and “Bhagne” Russell for executing the plot. He gave “Bhagne” Russell Tk 10,000 and spent the rest of the money.

“Bhagne” Russell forcibly took a motorbike from Sharif for carrying out “the mission”.

On September 28, “Chakki” Russell along with “Shooter” Rubel and “Bhagne” Russell went to the capital's Gulshan diplomatic zone, and “Shooter” Rubel fired four shots at Tavella, leaving the Italian national dead. 

The trio then demanded the rest of the amount from Matin, but he didn't give them any money.

Metropolitan Magistrate Shahriar Mahmud Adnan recorded “Chakki” Russell's statement and then sent him to Dhaka Central Jail.

The same court also placed Matin on an eight-day remand yesterday in connection with the Tavella murder.

FAMILY CLAIMS MATIN'S INNOCENCE

Matin's wife Dilruba said police were lying that they detained her husband at Benapole.

“On October 20, plain-clothes detectives arrested my husband from our house compound when he was going to a nearby mosque for Esha prayers,” she told The Daily Star yesterday.

Asked whether she had evidence to support her claim, Dilruba said, “There are several shops adjacent to my house. A number of shopkeepers and locals, who were present at that time, will tell you the truth.”

“You can ask any shopkeeper if you don't believe my words.”

Quoting locals, Dilruba said they told her that Matin was forced into a white microbus around 7:45pm on that day.

Matin is deputy managing director of Navid Wool Wear, a garment factory owned by his brother Quayum.

“Locals know how my husband was picked up. But police are cooking up a story that he was detained from Benapole while leaving the country.”

Dilruba said she went to Badda Police Station to file a general diary (GD) the day after her husband was picked up. But the policemen there discouraged her from filing a GD and asked her to search for her husband.

She finally managed to lodge a GD with the police station on October 27.

Talking to The Daily Star over the phone on October 27, Quayum said, “After detectives picked up my younger brother [Matin], and the home minister said in a statement that a big brother hired and financed hitmen to kill the Italian citizen, I feared that the government was going to implicate me in the matter to tarnish my image and that of the BNP.”