Rab produces woman, another confusion

Fahima Islam

A woman, who allegedly abetted Jubo League leader Tarek in murdering his party man Milky by giving him the latter's whereabouts, was arrested by Rab in the capital's Dhanmondi area yesterday morning.
The arrestee, Fahima Islam Lopa, 25, wife of Milky's close aide and Jubo League leader Maruf Reza Sagar, told Tarek the whereabouts of Milky, and thus helped him commit the murder, said Rab officials at a press briefing in the capital.
Tarek had initially wanted to take Sagar's help to plan Milky's murder. Failing to get Sagar's support, he used Lopa, with whom he had a relationship beyond Sagar's knowledge, Rab-1 Commanding Officer Kismat Hayat told journalists in the afternoon.
It was the latest claim by the elite force that had previously given confusing statements regarding Milky's murder. Rab yesterday produced Lopa at the press briefing at the Rab-1 headquarters to give a statement.
Speaking to journalists, Lopa said, “Sagar used to spend a lot of time with Riaz uncle [Riazul Haque Khan Milky] and would hardly have time for me. So, I got increasingly annoyed with Riaz uncle.”
Lopa said when Tarek, who had already been in conflict with Milky over political and financial matters, came to know about her dislike for the latter, he shared with her his plan to murder Milky.
Rab said Lopa had told them that the duo had been planning the murder for the last one month. “They first conspired to kill Milky during the shutdowns following the court verdict on Ghulam Azam [on July 15]. But it did not work out,” said Kismat.
The chance came in the early hours of July 30 when Milky went out with Sagar for shopping in the capital's Gulshan. “I called Sagar twice to know his [Milky] whereabouts and passed on the information to Tarek,” Lopa said.
She also claimed Tarek had plans to kill Khaled Mahmud Bhuiyan, organising secretary of Dhaka city unit (south) Jubo League, and Arifur Rahman Sohel, convener of Chhatra League's Motijheel unit.
“He [Tarek] boasted of his connections in politics and the armed forces,” said Lopa when prompted by Rab officials.
Jahid Siddique Tarek, 35, joint secretary of Dhaka City (south) unit Jubo League, allegedly killed Milky, organising secretary of Dhaka city (south) unit Jubo League, at 1:07am on Tuesday in front of Shoppers World, a shopping mall in Gulshan.
Sagar, who was with Milky during the incident, had identified the killer, claimed Kismat. “Though Sagar was our first suspect, his connection with the murder was not found in the primary interrogation,” said the Rab official.
“He knew nothing about his wife's link to the murder.” Sagar wasn't at home when Rab arrested his wife from their Dhanmondi house around 11:00am, Kismat told The Daily Star.
Eight people, including Lopa, have been arrested in connection with Milky's murder.
Tarek, the prime suspect in the murder, was killed in a “shootout” between his cohorts and Rab personnel on Wednesday night hours after the elite force had applied to the home ministry for transferring the case to it from the police.
The case was finally transferred to Rab-1 on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Jubo League Chairman Omar Faroque Chowdhury claimed that Milky's murder was a stray incident and had nothing to do with politics.
Such incident should not be linked with politics, and it needs to be investigated, Faroque said at a press briefing at his Dhanmondi office, reports UNB.
Jubo League has no record of any conflicts between Milky and Tarek, said Faroque.
Refuting Rab's earlier claim that Tarek was a “serial killer”, he said there was no information about 27 murder cases against Tarek as mentioned by the elite force.