They tortured and watched him die

Saiful Islam Russel was lying on the floor -- motionless, blood oozing from his mouth, and bruises on his face and body.

South Keraniganj Swechhasebak League's Organising Secretary Aftab Uddin Rabbi and around 25 of his associates were sitting around him, nonchalantly.

This was the scene Russel's wife Eaty Akhtar Riya walked in on when she went to Rabbi's "torture cell-cum-office" on the ground floor of the two-storey Parveen Tower in South Keraniganj's Shubhadha union.

Riya said she rushed to Rabbi's office around 12:30am on January 10 after someone called her and said Rabbi was torturing her husband.

"Russel was struggling to breathe and couldn't even speak to me. I begged Rabbi, who is also my husband's friend, to allow me to take Russel to hospital…," Riya told The Daily Star at her Khejurbagh Boroitola home in Telghat on Tuesday. 

Rabbi had told her that Russel must return Tk 20 lakh first. He, however, did not explain to her how Russel owed him that money.

"I told him I will return the money anyhow, even if I have to sell my and our only daughter's kidneys ... but please take Russel to hospital as soon as possible. Rabbi didn't care."

As Russel lapsed into unconsciousness, Rabbi ordered his men to take Riya's phone away from her so that she could not call anyone to inform them of the incident.

She then went home around 2:00am, some 300 yards from Rabbi's office, to fetch Russel's cheque book and hand it to Rabbi, who then instructed his associates to take Russel back home.

"In a gunny sack, they carried him back to our home. They stood guard at the house till 1:00pm but fled the moment the doctor they had called in announced him dead.

"Four of them had confined my daughter to a room, and me and my husband in another room, and stood at the doors with weapons so that I didn't dare to call anyone," Riya said.

After the men had fled, Russel's family took him to Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital, where too he was declared dead.

"Had I been allowed to take my husband to hospital earlier, he would still have been alive ... I want justice."

Riya said their daughter Jannatul Ferdous Angel, a sixth grader, was numb with shock.

A case was filed on January 11 against Rabbi, 12 of his named associates and 10-15 others unnamed. Russel's father Tofazzal Howlader, a freedom fighter, was made the complainant.

However, Riya said, "My father-in-law, who doesn't know much about the incident, was made the complainant."

Without elaborating, she said she had been facing pressure and intimidation from different quarters since the filing of the case.

Meanwhile, Russel's brother Hridoy Hawlader, who had gone to the police station with Tofazzal, said, "Police didn't care to listen to us and filed the case themselves, with their own statement, and made my father the complainant. We didn't even know what they wrote, but we know they were initially on the side of the accused. After videos of the incident went viral on Facebook after a few days, they changed their stance and the case."

According to the initial case statement, Russel had left his home around 8:00am on January 10 and was seen with Rabbi an hour later. He was then sent home after being physically assaulted, after which his wife took him to hospital, where he was declared dead.

That Riya was present at the scene or that his motionless body was put in a sack before being taken home were not mentioned in the statement.

However, family and local sources said Russel was picked up by some people around 10-10:30pm on January 9, and that no investigation into his death was carried out until the gruesome videos surfaced on social media.

Dhaka district Superintendent of Police Md Asaduzzaman at a press conference in his office yesterday said they had arrested Rabbi and 11 of the other named accused. He did not specify when they were arrested.

Rabbi and four of his men – Sajib, Rajib, Hira and Feroz – were arrested from Banshbaria Bazar of Jhenidah's Moheshpur upazila. Seven others – Alamgir alias Thandu, Amir, Rony, Delwar alias Delu, Shipon, Mahfuz and Ratan Sheikh – were arrested from Bhola's Lalmohan.

Later in the day, a Dhaka court placed nine arrestees on a three-day remand each, while three others – Sajib, Amir and Alamgir – confessed their involvement in the murder before two separate judicial magistrates.

SP Asaduzzaman said Russel used to extort money in Rabbi's name and had embezzled it all without giving Rabbi and his associates their shares, which led to a feud between them.

"To teach him a lesson, Rabbi and his men called him to the office and tortured him all night. They also cut off his hair. At one stage, Russel began begging for his life but they continued to torture him until he fell unconscious," the SP said.

Rabbi, son of Shubhadha Union AL President Bachher Uddin and nephew of Dhaka District AL Joint General Secretary and the Shubhadha Union Parishad Chairman Iqbal Hossain, became a Swechchhasebak League leader thanks to family clout.

Russel was also close to Rabbi's father and uncle.

Locals say Rabbi is a notorious criminal in the area and is particularly known to extort traders there.

He also holds arbitrations if anyone seeks his help to get money back from someone and takes an amount as his cut. He also tortures people who dare to disoblige him, said at least 15 local traders, wishing anonymity. 

Following Russel's death, Rabbi was expelled from the organisation.  

His family tried to cover up the incident but failed as several footages of the torture were posted on Facebook.

In one of the videos, Russel was heard pleading to Rabbi, "Abba, you are my father. Abba, abba, abba ... save me." Some men were seen twisting his arm and pulling him backwards during this time.

Another video shows Russel lying seemingly listless on the floor as a man continued beating and verbally abusing him.

The videos were recorded by the abusers themselves.

Shubhadha Union Parishad Chairman Iqbal Hossain said that what his nephew has done is not fair, adding that Russel was close to him.

According to locals, Mohammad Masudur Rahman, inspector (investigation) of South Keraniganj Police Station, along with other police officers frequented Rabbi's office.

On January 5, Rabbi posted on his Facebook profile a photograph of himself and his associates with Inspector Masudur, with the caption -- "Important matters being discussed with Masudur Rahman mama [uncle]", SP Asaduzzaman said.

Contacted, Masudur said, "I never went to his [Rabbi's] office. I don't know where that photograph came from."

Additional Superintendent of Police (Keraniganj circle) Shahabuddin Kabir said, "The 12 arrestees, including Rabbi, were nabbed on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Inspector  Masudur was withdrawn from his post as there were allegations of him visiting Rabbi's office and a photograph of them together was found on Facebook."