8 more arrested over killing of police officer at Savar

The Rapid Action Battalion has arrested eight more people allegedly involved in the killing of Special Branch sub-inspector Altab Hossain, 58, at Aminbazar of Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, taking the total number of arrests in the case to nine. A Dhaka court on Monday placed Jahurul Islam, 32, the prime accused in the case, on a five-day remand. Jahurul was arrested early Sunday. Dhaka Senior Judicial Magistrate Ayesha Siddika passed the order after a hearing in the afternoon following a 10-day remand plea, said Arif Hossain, a sub-inspector of the prosecution department. Sunday's arrestees are Alauddin, 26, Apon, 30, Jihad, 20, Imran, 26, Nur Mohammad Rudra, 24, Md Rakib Mia, 28, Sabbir Ahmed, 24, and Md Wasim, 40. Of the eight, four were arrested by RAB-10 from Munshiganj and the other four by RAB-4 from Aminbazar on Sunday. RAB-10 commander Mohammad Asaduzzaman disclosed the information at a press conference at the RAB Media Centre at Karwan Bazar in the capital Dhaka on Monday. At the briefing, Asaduzzaman said Altab was beaten to death between 8:30pm and 11:00pm on September 5 in the Bardeshi area of Aminbazar after he protested against the assault of an auto-rickshaw garage owner by a private car driver and his associates. Altab intervened when the garage owner was allegedly being beaten over the parking of an auto-rickshaw. An altercation then broke out between Altab, his son Ariful and the attackers. At one point, Altab identified himself as a police officer, but the attackers allegedly became more aggressive. As the situation escalated, Altab took shelter in a garment factory owned by his son. The attackers allegedly followed him there, brought 15 to 20 more associates, broke open the factory gate and entered the premises. They allegedly beat Altab and his son with sticks and locally made weapons and vandalised machinery and furniture inside the factory. Locals rescued the injured and took them to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared Altab dead. Altab's wife later filed a murder case with the Savar model police station against 15 named accused and several unidentified people. RAB-10 arrested Alauddin, Apon, Jihad and Imran during a drive at the launch terminal area under the Munshiganj sadar police station at about 7:30pm on Sunday, based on intelligence information, Asaduzzaman said. He added that Apon was also accused in three drug cases filed with the Savar police station. A RAB-4 team arrested Nur Mohammad Rudra, Md Rakib Mia, Sabbir Ahmed and Wasim from Aminbazar using information technology and intelligence inputs. The arrestees would be handed over to police for further legal action, RAB said.