Police change probe focus

Contradicting an earlier version that Prof Shafiul's killers were linked to Islamist radicals, Rajshahi police yesterday echoed the Rapid Action Battalion's claim that personal feud led to the killing of the progressive-minded Rajshahi University teacher.

After verification, police have found that Rab's claim has substance and there is sufficient evidence as to the Rab arrestees' involvement in the murder, said Rajshahi Metropolitan Police Commissioner M Shamsuddin during a press briefing at the RMP headquarters.

Interestingly enough, the RMP boss on November 23 came up with an entirely different version upon detaining three Jamaat-Shibir men from Bogra.  He said the arrestees were the killers who had claimed responsibility for the murder on Facebook.

They are linked to the militant outfit called Ansar Al Islam Bangladesh-2, he had added.

However, Rab on the same day [November 23] claimed that Prof Shafiul was killed not by militants but by activists of Rajshahi BNP's youth and student wings as a consequence of personal feud. The activists are district Jubo Dal leader Anwar Hossain Uzzal, former Chhatra Dal vice president of RU unit Abdus Samad Pintu and former Jubo Dal organising secretary of Katakhali municipality unit Ariful Islam Manik, among others. Uzzal is still at large.

Meanwhile, the Rab arrestees including Pintu and Manik denied their involvement in the killing when they were produced before three Rajshahi courts on Tuesday. They also alleged that they were subjected to "forced confession".

Shafiul's misbehaviour with Pintu's wife Nasrin Akhtar who works in the accounts section of the university triggered the feud, Rab claimed before media quoting the arrestees.

Meanwhile, four days into their detention, the three suspected militants were neither shown arrested nor were produced before any court by RMP, which is a violation of law. Asked about this, the RMP boss said they were kept in custody for the sake of interrogation.

In reply to a query about the main culprit behind the purported militant group operating on Facebook, Shamsuddin said he was a former Shibir president of Bogra Azizul Haque Government College who had gone into hiding.

“We will be sure about his identity only when he is arrested”, he said.

Rajshahi police on Tuesday sought seven-day remand for Jinnat Ali, Arif and Sagor -- three of the eleven accused in the case – for the third time. A Rajshahi court will hear the remand prayer today.

In another intriguing development, Nasrin Akhter, wife of Pintu, said she did not even know the teacher.

In an interview with private television channel Jamuna TV, she said: “I didn't even know him. I learnt about him only after his death news was circulated on television."

She has gone into hiding since her husband was arrested by Rab, said RMP sources.