10 political leaders complicit in Tipu murder

Thirty-three people, including at least nine leaders of different units of the ruling Awami League and its associate bodies, have been charge-sheeted in the murder case of Jahidul Islam Tipu, former general secretary of Motijheel thana AL.

The Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police submitted the charge sheet before a Dhaka court yesterday. Among the 33 accused are a Motijheel Jatiya Party leader and two underworld criminals. 

The DB said the accused planned the murder after failing to take control of tenders, footpaths, kitchen markets, cable TV business in Motijheel and admission to Motijheel Ideal School and College from Tipu.

Twenty-four of the accused have so far been arrested.

According to the charge sheet, some of the accused held several secret meetings at different places in Dhaka from the middle of December 2021. Fugitive top underworld criminals Zeesan Ahmed alias Monti, and Jafar Ahmed Manik alias Freedom Manik joined several of the meetings through video calls from the UAE and India respectively.

The last meeting was held at the Bird's Eye Rooftop Restaurant and Convention Hall in Purana Paltan and the final decision to kill Tipu was made.

On March 24 last year, three of the accused opened fire at Tipu's car in the capital's Shahjahanpur, leaving the AL leader and a college student, Samia Afran Jamal Prity, dead.

Among the accused are Dhaka city (south) AL Organising Secretary Golam Ashraf Talukder, its member Maruf Ahmed Mansoor, also the ward-10 councillor of Dhaka South City Corporation, former general secretary of Motijheel Thana Chhatra League Khairul Islam, Motijheel thana Jatiya Party leader Juber Alam Khan Robin, former convenor of Habibullah Bahar College Chhatra League Sohel Shahriar, expelled ward-10 Jubo League president Maruf Reza Sagar, former ward-11 Jubo League president Kamruzzaman Babul, former member of ward-10 Jubo League Morshed Alam Polash, former ward-10 Swechhasebak League leader Aminul Islam Habib, ex-convener of Motijheel thana Chhatra League Arifur Rahman Sohel alias Ghatok Sohail, Arfan Ullah Imam alias Damal, Nasir Uddin Manik, Suman Sikdar Musa, Mahbubur Rahman Titu, Shamim Hossain Mollah, Mohammad Maruf Khan, Hafizul Islam, Masum Mohammad Akash, Sakendar Sikdar, Istiaque Ahmed Zitu, Imrun Hossain, Rakibur Rahman, Toufiq Hasan Babu, Rifat Hossain, Nasir Uddin alias Killer Nasir, Omar Faruk, Abu Saleh Sikdar alias Shooter Sikdar, Moshiur Rahman Ikram, Yeasir Arafat Saikot, Rana Mollah, Shamsul Haider Uzzal, Excel Sohel, Zeesan Ahmed alias Monti, and Jafar Ahmed Manik alias Freedom Manik.

Though the investigation officer of the case, Mohammad Yasin Sikder, also a DB inspector, found 34 people involved in the murder, he submitted the charge sheet against 33 accused as the identity of Excel Sohel could not be confirmed.

Tipu's wife Farhana Islam Doly, the complainant of the case, said she was satisfied with the charge sheet as it named those involved in the murder.

She, however, requested the law enforcers to arrest the fugitive accused.

"My life will be at risk if they are not arrested," she told The Daily Star yesterday.

Farhana, also the woman councillor in the reserved seat for wards-1, 11, 12, said she already lodged six general diaries with the police following threats by unidentified callers.

She demanded expulsion of the accused who are holding posts in different organisations.

DB Chief Mohammad Harun Or Rashid said they filed the charge sheet against those found involved in the murder regardless of their political affiliations.

The charge sheet said Suman Sikder Musa, who was flown back home from Oman by the DB several months after the killing, was the main coordinator of the murder. He contacted Shamim Hossain who later selected his longtime friend Masum Mohammad Akash for the mission and assured him of accompanying him during the gun attack.

Musa, an accused in the Bocha Babu murder case, became annoyed with Tipu as he was assisting Babu's father for quick disposal of the case, the charge sheet added.

Musa, Shooter Akash and Nasir Uddin Manik made confessional statements before magistrates.