One more accused held over Moghbazar triple murder

Relatives of three victims, who were shot dead, at Sonalibagh burst into tears in front of a room of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital where the bodies were kept on August 28. Photo: STAR

Detectives today arrested another accused in the case filed in connection with the sensational triple murder in Moghbazar of Dhaka.

“A team of Detective Branch of police arrested Arif Hawlader from Demra last night,” said Mahfuzur Rhaman, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) said today.

On August 28, a group of upto 21 assailants gunned down three people and injured another at a house in Sonalibagh, Moghbazar.

The deceased were identified as Ranu Akhter Brishti, 28, Munna, 20, and Billal Hossain, 25. The injured was Hridoy, brother of Ranu.

A day after the killing, Kala Chan, brother of victim Ranu, filed a case against 15 named persons including Arif and upto six anonymous people. One Shah Alam alias Kailla Babu was made the prime accused.

Police sources said there had long been an intense rivalry among three alleged local land grabbers and extortionists --Kailla Babu, Kalachand (Brishti’s elder bother) and Rony.

Kailla Babu, a top criminal and accused in several other cases, led the killing mission, both police and the plaintiff said.

On August 30, three of the accused were arrested. Two among them -- Faruk Shamim Hossain, 32, and Sohel Khan, 28 – were close associates of Kailla Babu.

Later, the two were placed on five-day remand each where they said to have primarily confessed their involvement with the killing.