SP Babul Aktar being questioned, says home minister

A senior Bangladesh police officer, known for leading many counter-terrorism operations and whose wife has been murdered recently, is being questioned by police.

Relatives say SP Babul Aktar was picked up from his Dhaka home early on Saturday and whisked away to an unknown place.

Babul Aktar has been staying with his two children in that house after his wife’s killing in the port city of Chittagong.

Authorities said that he is being questioned but did not confirm whether he was arrested.

“Babul Aktar is being questioned in front of some suspects,” Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told bdnews24.com on Saturday morning.

He, however, did not give out any details as to whether he was arrested or is just being questioned.

“It’s not yet the time to say anything. You will be informed soon,” is what Kamal said in reply to queries from bdnews24.com.

Relatives said they are yet to contact Babul Aktar since he was taken away from his home in Dhaka’s Banasree area around 1am on Saturday.

Father-in-law Mosharraf Hossain, a retired police inspector, said that Khilgaon police OC Moinul Hossain and Motijheel Zone Deputy Commissioner Anwar Hossain took him away from his home.

“They said that the IG (police chief) wanted to meet him. Since then we are not being able to contact him or those who took him away,” he said.

According to unconfirmed reports, Babul Aktar is being kept at the Detective Branch office in Dhaka but police officials have remained tight-lipped on his whereabouts.

On the morning of June 5, Superintendent Babul Aktar’s wife Mahmuda Aktar was stabbed and shot dead while on her way to drop her son at school.

Police had been saying they suspect Islamist militants for the murder as Babul Aktar had led several successful raids against them during his tenure in the Detective Branch at the southeastern coastal district of Chittagong.

Babul Aktar is the plaintiff in the case filed over his wife’s murder, which is why he often had to go to the police station, said relatives.

“He had to go to police stations in the night quite a few times on previous occasions. But we could always contact him which is not the case this time.

“Why are we not being allowed to talk with him? His phone keeps on ringing,” said Babul Aktar’s father-in-law.

File Photo

Khilgaon police OC Moinul Hossain and Motijheel Zone Deputy Commissioner Anwar Hossain, the officers who picked up Babul Aktar, did not answer several phone calls made by bdnews24.com.

Phone calls made to Dhaka metro police Deputy Commissioner (Public Relations) Masudur Rahman were also not answered.

Babul Aktar’s father Wadud Mia, also a retired police officer, was at the Banasree home when his son was taken away early on Saturday.

“Babul informed us from a police event on Friday evening that he will meet the IG (inspector general of police).

“He returned home around 12:45am along with the OC (Moinul Hossain). Later, the DC (Anwar Hossain) came and took him away saying that the IG wanted to meet him,” he told bdnews24.com.

He said that they have failed to contact Babul Aktar since then.

“The OC used to answer our calls, but now he is not picking up. We have contacted the Detective Branch, but no one is helping. They say senior officials can say what’s the matter.”

Chittagong police have arrested two suspects over the murder of Babul Aktar’s wife and questioned them after securing remand from court.