Murder accused now a jeweller in Dubai

A man accused of killing a policeman in Bangladesh launched a jeweller's in Dubai yesterday.

There, he goes by the name of Arav Khan, which is actually an alias of fugitive accused Rabiul Islam, said Shahidur Rahman, additional deputy commissioner of the Detective Branch (Khilgaon Zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

Rabiul is the son of Matiur Rahman Mollah of Ashutia village in Gopalganj's Kotalipara upazila.

He also operates under aliases such as Apan, Shohag, Hridoy and Hrid, DB sources said.

For the inauguration of his jeweller's, Rabiul even went on to invite cricket superstar Shakib Al Hasan to cut the ribbon.

Shakib yesterday went to Gold Souk in Dubai to join the inauguration but returned to hotel seeing mismanagement, said witnesses.

The Daily Star reached out to him for comments but did not get a reply.

THE CASE

The DB on April 11, 2019, pressed charges against Rabiul and nine others in the murder case of Mamun Emran Khan, then inspector of the Special Branch of police, said ADC Shahidur.

Mamun was killed inside a flat in the capital's Banani on July 7, 2018.

Soon after the murder, Rabiul fled to India. He later hired one Md Abu Yusuf to surrender under his name and address. Abu Yusuf had been behind bars for nine months in the case.

In 2020, Rabiul managed to have an Indian passport. The Daily Star has obtained an unverified copy of his Indian passport, No-U 4985389.

In the passport issued from Kolkata on July 28, 2020, Rabiul's name is mentioned as Arav Khan, son of Jakir Khan and Rehana Bibi Khan. The spouse's name is said to be Sajeema Nasrin.

As per the Indian passport, Arav was born on July 31, 1993, in Nerendrapur, West Bengal. The passport will expire on July 27, 2030.

A man close to Arav confirmed this newspaper that they refer to him as Apan Arav, and that he was born in Kotalipara of Gopalganj. The man also said Arav was accused in a case in Bangladesh.

Arav now lives in Dubai, and the UAE authorities issued him a resident permit on October 31, 2021, which would expire on October 30 next year.

Rabiul's name came in the spotlight in recent weeks in the buildup to yesterday's inauguration of Arav Jewellers in Dubai's Gold Souk at 7:00pm (local time).

THE MURDER

On July 7, 2018, Inspector Mamun went to a house in Banani following an invitation by one Rahmatullah to attend a birthday party.

A police probe later found that Mamun was actually trapped. He was taken inside the flat where some criminals tried to take compromising shots of him.

When Mamun revealed his identity, the criminals tied him up, covered his mouth withscotch tapeand beat him up mercilessly. At one stage, the inspector died.

The nine other accused in the murder case are Rabiul's wife Suraiya Akhter Keya, Rahmat Ullah, Swapan Sarkar, Didar Pathan, Mizan Sheikh, Atiq Hassan, Sarwar Hossain, Meherunnisa alias Swarna and Faria Binte Maisa.

Majaharul Alam Panna, chairman of Kotalipara's Hiron union, said he is aware that Rabiul is accused in three cases, including that of the cop murder.

Police went to Ashutia village several times to look for Rabiul.

Majaharul also said that when he went to Saudi Arabia two and a half months back to perform Umrah, Rabiul called him and met him in Riyadh.

"Rabiul told me that he lives in Dubai where he has a jeweller's shop. I didn't believe it as they don't have any notable properties at the village," the UP chairman told The Daily Star.

MAN HIRED TO SURRENDER

Abu Yusuf surrendered to a Dhaka court on October 20, 2020, using the identity and address of Rabiul and was sent to jail in the murder case.

The man agreed to do this in exchange for monthly compensation to be paid to his family by Rabiul.

At one stage, Rabiul stopped providing the compensation, prompting Abu Yusuf to file a prayer with the court through his lawyer, stating that he was actually Abu Yusuf, and not the charge-sheeted accused Rabiul.

The lawyer also told the court that his client committed a crime possibly due to the allure of money or after being threatened.

The court then asked the DB to investigate the matter and submit a report.

After investigation, the DB found that Abu Yusuf is the son of Md Nuruzzaman and Halima Begum of Ainpur under Kachua Police Station in Chandpur.