Tipu murder: ‘Killer’ arrested

Detectives yesterday said they arrested the man who shot Awami League leader Jahidul Islam Tipu and a college student in the capital's Shajahanpur on Thursday.

Masum Mohammad, who goes by the alias Akash, was about to leave the country, when detectives caught him in Bogura, Additional Commissioner AKM Hafiz Akhter of the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police claimed at a media briefing.

The 34-year-old man was given the hit job five days before the murder and was informed about Tipu as the target two days later, Hafiz said without mentioning any possible motive behind the murder.

However, police could neither recover the firearm used in the murders nor the motorcycle on which the suspect fled the scene, he said.

The additional commissioner said Masum disclosed the names of several other suspects. "We will interrogate him on remand and let you know the details of his associates, masterminds and motives," he said.

Asked how detectives were so sure that Masum was the suspect without the weapon or the motorcycle, he said the security camera footage and other evidence corroborated their findings.

Masum admitted that he shot the firearm and disclosed the name of the man who rode the motorcycle on which he arrived at the scene and fled, said the officer.

The suspect, he said, told officers that he was already accused in four to five cases, including one for murder. "During primary interrogation, Masum said he agreed to kill Tipu because those who assigned him promised to get him off the cases."

Visiting Masum's home in the capital's Dakkhin Madertek, this correspondent learnt that Masum got involved in Bangladesh Chhatra League in college and used to hang out with friends a little too much. His father, the teacher of a school in Segunbagicha, was not okay with his lifestyle, family members of Masum said.

After his father drove him out of the house around 15 years ago, he never returned or contacted his parents, said his mother.

"My son was a polite boy and a brilliant student in school. I do not believe that he can kill anyone," she told this correspondent. "We heard that he got married and was the father of a three-year-old child."

Additional Commissioner Hafiz at the press conference said police were focusing on several aspects of the case.

"We have arrested the lone shooter. Now we will try to find who instructed him ... who were his associates and what were the motives behind the murder. We are also trying to recover the firearm and the motorcycle," he said.

Several local ruling party leaders and law enforcers said Tipu's murder could be linked to his rise in local politics, his control over tenders in Bangladesh Krira Parishad and Power Development Board and his alleged involvement in a couple of previous murders.

Detectives said the day before Tipu got killed, Masum along with an associate waited around Tipu's office at AGB Colony in Motijheel with a pistol. But they failed to kill him.

Masum and the associate went the next day in front of a restaurant Tipu owns in Motijheel AGB Colony area, but failed to kill him as he was surrounded by people. They then followed his microbus and opened fire when his vehicle got stuck in traffic near Amtala Masjid.

After the killing, he went to a hideout with the help of two friends, the Detective Branch said in a press release.

Hafiz said Masum told officers that he did not see who else got shot in the Thursday murders.

Tipu was returning home at Khilgaon Bagichha from his restaurant in Motijheel AGB Colony around 10:15pm on Thursday when he, his driver and a college student, Samia Afran Jamal Prity, who happened to be on a rickshaw next to the microbus, got shot. 

Tipu and Prity were pronounced dead after being taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Masum and his associates went to Joypurhat in a vehicle the next day and made a failed attempt to go across the border. He then came back to Bogura where he got arrested.

Tipu's wife Farhana Islam Doly, a women councillor in Motijheel area, said she wanted to see the mastermind arrested.