RAB's internal report blames its own men for Narayanganj multiple murders

The internal probe by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has blamed three of its former officers for the murder of seven in Narayanganj.

Court CorrespondentSupreme bdnews24.com
Published : 10 Dec 2014, 11:18 AM
Updated : 11 Dec 2014, 07:48 AM

Among those killed were City Corporation Councillor Nazrul Islam and senior lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarkar.

The elite police unit submitted its report to the High Court on Wednesday, almost eight months after the killing in April this year.

It found former army Lt Col Tarek Sayeed Mohammad and ex-Maj Arif Hossain, and the navy’s former Lt Commander MM Rana guilty of the murders.

The trio had been deputed to the elite force’s Narayanganj-based RAB-11.

Tarek Sayeed is the son-in-law of Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya.

After presenting the report to a High Bench, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told the media the report stated that Sayeed and Arif Hossain were involved in the entire process, starting from the abduction to dumping of the bodies in Shitalakkhyya River.

Rana was partially involved as his role was limited to whisking away the seven, he added.

The RAB report has also named 18 other persons, all of them deputed to RAB-11, who were 'present and helped' to kill the seven men.

Alam described the report as an 'internal' one and said it would not be considered for trial.

The court will only consider the chargesheet submitted by the police's Detective Branch (DB).

"The High Court ordered the RAB to look into whether the force's members were involved and whether there was any negligence to rescue the abducted," said the attorney general.

Asked whether the RAB headquarters were informed about the incident, he replied: “That will be known after the full report is read.

"I have said RAB is not the investigating agency. This report only mentioned those names that were initially found involved. A trial cannot be held based on this. It will have to be on the report by the DB."

The report identified the conflict between the Narayanganj City councillors, Nazrul Islam and Nur Hossain, as the cause that had led to the abduction and murder of the seven.

Despite doing politics on same ground, Nazrul and Hossain had a history of bad blood. Both had filed cases against each other over business interests, local dominion and political positions.

The report said perhaps Nur Hossain was looking for administrative clout and finally managed to have Arif Hossain first and then Tareq Sayeed Mohammad help him, it said.

The attorney general read out the report in the court. RAB Additional Director General (Administration) Aftab Uddin handed the report to Alam on Nov 23.

Mahbubey Alam read out the names of the 18 others accused in the report.

They are Sub Inspector Purnendu Bala, AB Arif Hossain, Nayek 'Nazim', Nayek 'Delwar', Lance Nayek Hira Miah, Sainik Abdul Alim, Sainik Al Amin, Sepoy 'Toiyab', Constable Sihab Uddin, Constable Al Amin, Havilder ‘Emdad’, Lance Nayek Belal Hossain, Sainik ‘Asad’, Sergeant ‘Enamul’, Assistant Sub-Inspector ‘Bazlu’ , Havilder ‘Nasir’ and Sainik ‘Tajul’.

The Ministry of Public Administration had formed another committee to probe whether law enforcers were anyway involved in the incident.

The committee interrogated RAB Director General Mokhlesur Rahman and Additional Director General Col Ziaul Ahsan following court directives.

Nazrul Islam, Chandan Sarkar and five others were whisked away from Dhaka-Narayanganj link road on Apr 27. Their bodies were found floating on the Shitalakkhyya River several days later.

After the corpses were retrieved, Nazrul's father-in-law alleged that Nur Hossain had paid RAB officials to carry out the assassinations. The family also filed a case naming Siddhirganj Awami League unit Vice-President Hossain as the prime accused.

Later, the High Court ordered arrest of Tarek, Arif and Rana. The trio was also suspended from RAB after the allegations surfaced before being sacked by their respective forces.

All of them confessed to their crimes in court after they were arrested and interrogated on remand in several phases.

Sixteen RAB officials including the trio so far have confessed in court. Nine other RAB personnel have also deposed in court as witnesses.

Many human-rights organisations several times have asked the government to disband the elite force which they alleged alone is responsible for at least 800 extrajudicial killings since its inception in 2004.

Only the other day, US Assistant Secretary for Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs William Brownfield while speaking about RAB had said that the military personnel and police better not work together in one force because they were trained and equipped differently.