A friend of Nibras, he was accused in a terror case
Shazad, killed in Kalyanpur raid, had been missing for six months
He came from a well-off family, had his education in some of the renowned institutions at home and abroad. He then went on to work with multinational companies. His LinkedIn profile presents a brilliant image about the youth in his 20s.
Despite having strong educational and economic backgrounds, Shazad Rouf alias Arko was radicalised and became a militant. He was among the nine militants killed during a raid in the capital's Kalyanpur in the early morning of Tuesday.
Shazad went missing from Dhaka on February 3 but within six days his name appeared in a terrorism case filed with Shahbagh Police Station. Shazad's name was also on the Rab's missing list.
He was a “friend” of Nibras Islam, one of the Gulshan café attackers, police said.
Shazad, an MBA student of North South University (NSU), also had US citizenship, according to police.
The Daily Star could not independently verify the police's claim.
Sources in the Detective Branch of police said they matched Shazad's fingerprint with that on his national identity card.
Shazad's father Touhid Rouf of the capital's Baridhara area had filed a general dairy with Bhatara Police Station on February 6 after the family failed to find Shazad, Sub-Inspector Mizanur Rahman of Bhatara Police Station told The Daily Star.
He claimed that Nibras and Shazad were of NSU and friends.
THE CASE
On February 9, Abul Bashar, sub-inspector of the Detective Branch (South) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, filed a case with Shahbagh Police Station under the Anti-Terrorism Act against 12 people for conspiring to commit subversive activities.
According to the case document, on that day police conducted a drive in Shahbagh area on information that some militants were plotting to carry out subversive activities.
Police arrested three suspects and learnt from them that their nine accomplices managed to escape, it read.
The names of the nine suspects, including Shazad (Shezad as mentioned in the document), Nibras Islam and Tawsif Hossain, were mentioned as suspects without addresses.
SM Raisul Islam, investigation officer of the case, told this newspaper yesterday that Ahmed Shammur Raihan alias Chiller, 23, was one of the three arrestees. During interrogation, he told police that Shazad was his cousin.
Shammur is out on bail since April 19.
Raisul said according to the information they had gathered, Nibras and Tawsif studied at Monash University in Malaysia and were friends.
Nibras and Tawsif went missing from Dhaka on February 3. Tawsif's father Ajmal Hossain filed a general diary with Dhanmondi Police Station on that day, the police officer added.
About a media report that Nibras, Tawsif and Shazad were friends, Raisul said, “I also learnt it from the media but I am not sure about it.”
FATHER TRIES TO IDENTIFY BODY
After seeing photographs of the bodies of suspects on social media and on a news portal run by Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Shazad's father Touhid contacted the DMP, Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner (Media) of DMP told reporters.
Since Touhid said one of the nine killed looked like his missing son, the DMP asked him to visit Dhaka Medical College morgue.
Touhid, his two relatives and a representative of the US embassy in Dhaka visited the morgue around 3:30pm.
“Looking at the bodies, he [Touhid] said one of the bodies looked like of his son but he was not sure,” said Sohel Mahmud, assistant professor of forensic medicine department of the DMC, who had done the autopsies.
“We suggested DNA profiling for confirmation,” he told reporters.
When journalists approached the visitors, Touhid and the three others did not say anything.
However, sources in the Detective Branch of Police say that they are sure that it is Shazad's body.
Police yesterday disclosed the identities of seven, including Shazad, of the nine killed on July 26.