‘Killers known, motive clear, yet no action'
The room is still neatly kept the way Taqi would want it.
On one side stands a showcase where novels and different other books are stored. He had a passion for books, especially science fictions.
Several prizes and crests he had received for poetry recitation and other cultural activities are perched atop the showcase. His computer is next to a reading table with his textbooks on it.
Taqi's mother Rawnak Rehana kept all these items as mementoes of her son in their rented house on Shaista Khan Road in Narayanganj.
"Taqi wanted to be an army officer in his childhood. His father bought him an olive green jacket and trouser. He was very elated to get the dress. I have still kept the dress, but my son is gone," she said as her voice cracked.
She took a pause trying to choke back tears and said: "My son had a kind of addiction to reading books. He used to write stories, poems, science articles and many other things in Bangla and English. He used to recite poems and sing and play chess with his father and cricket with his younger brother.
"Whenever someone sings, I see Taqi's face as if my boy is singing. If anyone recites a poem, it feels like I'm hearing Taqi's voice."
With tears rolling down her cheeks, she said, "We lost our beloved child in such a cruel way, but still we did not get justice. The killers are not unknown, neither unclear is their motive. But the state is yet to take any action against the killers."
Tanwir Muhammed Taqi, 17, went missing after he had left home for Sudhijon Pathagar, a local library, around 4:00pm on March 6, 2013.
His A-level results were out the next day and he emerged as the highest scorer in the world in physics getting 297 out of 300. In chemistry, he got 294 out of 300, the highest score in the country in the subject. He was a student of ABC International School.
On the morning of March 8, his body was found floating in the Shitalakkhya river.
The murder triggered a huge public outcry. People of Narayanganj formed "Santrash Nirmul Taqi Mancha", vowing to fight for justice and against criminal activities, and also to keep alive the memory of the murdered schoolboy.
After Taqi's going missing, his father Rafiur Rabbi filed a general dairy with Narayanganj Sadar Police Station on March 6.
On March 8, he filed a murder case with the same police station.
Rabbi also submitted a complaint to the Narayanganj superintendent of police on March 18 that year, accusing seven people, including Shamim Osman and his son Ayon Osman and eight to 10 unnamed others.
Four years have gone by but investigators could not press charges in the case.
Two years ago, Home Minister (then a state minister) Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters in Narayanganj that the charge sheets of the seven-murder and Taqi murder cases will be submitted soon.
The seven-murder trial ended and a Narayanganj court on January 16 handed down death penalty to 26 people and jailed nine other accused.
But the proceedings of Taqi murder, which took place nearly one year before the seven-murder, is yet to start in the absence of the charge sheet.
A draft of the investigation report was leaked before the first death anniversary of Taqi on March 6, 2014. Different newspapers ran stories based on the draft with quotes from top-ranking Rab officials about involvement of around a dozen people in the murder.
In March 2014, Rab's the then additional director general Col Ziaul Ahsan told a newspaper that they found involvement of Ajmeri Osman and his 10 accomplices in Taqi murder. He had also said that the charge sheet would be submitted any day.
Ajmeri is the son of ex-Jatiya Party MP Nasim Osman and nephew of ruling Awami League MP Shamim Osman.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, Kamrul Hasan, commanding officer of Rab-11, said it is not possible to set a deadline for completing the investigation.
Investigation is going on and they are submitting progress report before a Narayanganj court from time to time. There is no bar to probing the case, he added.
Talking to this newspaper, Taqi's father Rabbi alleged that although the whole nation knew who killed his son and how, the case was stalled.
"If the government wants, the trial can be held. The war crimes trial is the proof," Rabbi said.
"Nothing is more painful than carrying the dead body of one's own child," he said, demanding the culprits be brought to book.
Meanwhile, leaders of different socio-political and cultural organisations expressed dissatisfaction over the delay in completing the murder investigation and failure to bring the killers to book.
Narayanganj City Corporation Mayor Selina Hayat Ivy at a programme on Friday said the law enforcement agencies know everything about those who killed Taqi and how, but the proceedings got stuck.
"We want our prime minister to order the start of trial."
Halim Azad, member-secretary of Taqi Mancha, said, "We don't know why the investigation report has not been submitted yet."
He sought the prime minister's intervention to this end.
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