UP polls candidate in Mongla had woman murdered to frame rival, PBI finds
A candidate of union parishad election in Mongla's Chila union had a woman murdered in Savar to frame his rival. In the end, none of them won, but an innocent woman lost her life.
The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) probed the incident for over a week and arrested three people in connection with the murder.
Although it involved the UP election in Mongla's Chila union, the murder took place in Baktarpur area of Savar.
After killing the woman, the murderer left a photocopy of the rival UP member candidate's national identity card to frame him.
At a press briefing at its headquarter in Dhaka today, PBI Chief Banaj Kumar Majumder said they arrested the mastermind, UP member candidate Halim Hawlader (52), from Bagerhat's Mongla; the killer Jamal Hawlader (50) from Dhaka's Lalbagh; and their associate Moshiur Rahman Milon Kabiraj, a tailor by profession, from the Mirpur area.
At the press conference, Banaj Kumar said that Halim wanted to frame his rival Billal Sardar in a case with a serious charge so that he gets jailed.
The PBI received a phone call conversation where Halim was heard saying, "If Billal is not arrested, first a rickshaw-puller will die. If that does not work, then a woman will die."
Banaj Kumar said the election was scheduled to be held on September 20. According to the plan, Halim hired a man from Dhaka -- Jamal -- to kill someone in exchange for Tk 30,000 in late August. The condition was to leave a photocopy of Billal's NID card at the crime scene.
"Halim collected the NID copy of Billal and handed it over to Jamal," said the PBI Chief.
"The hired killer did not know who to kill. The victim did not know why she was killed. A person was killed in order to win in the UP election. One thing is very clear here -- the murderer planned to kill someone who was poor," said Banaj Kumar.
Then, the killer Jamal contacted his friend Moshiur, the tailor. Moshiur gave him an easy target -- Parul Begum, who used to stitch children's clothes and sell them.
"Parul used to live alone in Dhaka since her daughter lives in the village. She needed support. Jamal pretended to be in love with Parul and convinced her to rent a house in Nama Bazar area of Savar on September 7, posing as a couple," Banaj Kumar said.
"On their first night in Savar, Jamal strangled Parul with a scarf. Later, he left a photocopy of Billal Sardar's NID card next to the body," said the PBI official.
"After recovering the copy of the NID card, we investigated and confirmed that Billal was not involved in the murder. Then we contacted him to know whether he has any enemy. He named a few people including Halim," the PBI chief added.
"Our investigation found frequent contact between Halim and Jamal. After arresting Jamal, when we took him to Savar, the caretaker of that rented house identified him," he added.
Banaj Kumar said, among the arrestees, Jamal and Moshiur gave confessional statements before a Dhaka court.
However, talking to The Daily Star, Gazi Akbar Hossain, chairman of Chila union, said Halim was framed in the incident following the feud with Billal.
"Halim was a UP member twice at a remote union. He went to Dhaka only once in his lifetime and does not know the city very well. How can he hire a man in Dhaka and plan the murder?" -- asked the chairman.