One killed in 'shootout'

An alleged criminal was killed in a 'shootout' between his accomplices and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) in the old part of the capital, early yesterday.
The deceased identified as Russel Ahmed alias Bhutto, 35, was son of one Nasiruddin and resided in Proshonno Poddar Lane.
Russel was a listed criminal and was accused in 22 cases, including six for murder, alleged the officials of Rab and police.
However, Russel's family members denied the allegation and claimed that Rab had picked him up from the capital's Moghbazar on March 3.
According to the law enforcers, a team of Rab-10 went to Zindabahar at the city's Kotwali around 3:00am when Russel and his cohorts opened fire on the elite force members, prompting them to retaliate.
Russel was caught in the line of fire and died on the spot though his cohorts managed to flee the scene. Rab recovered a revolver and four rounds of bullets from his possession.
However, Golam Mustafa, uncle of Russel's wife said they had contacted Rab following the arrest early this month, but they denied the occurrence of any such event.
“We wanted to file a general diary with Kotwali Police Station in this regard on March 5 but the police refused to do so,” he added.