‘Mastermind’ of attack to murder Madaripur college teacher arrested in Dhaka

Police claim to have arrested one Khaled Saifullah, who, they say, masterminded an attempt to murder a college teacher in Madaripur.

DMP Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman said their counterterrorism unit nabbed Saifullah from Dhaka’s Demra on Thursday night.
 
He said the media briefing would follow later on Friday morning at the DMP media centre.
 
Three youths had hacked Ripon Chakrabarty, a mathematics teacher at the Government Nazimuddin College in Madaripur, at his home with sharp weapons on Jun 15 afternoon in an attempt to kill him.
 
The assailants first knocked at the Hindu teacher’s door and tried to chop his head off when he opened it, police said.
 

Locals, who had rushed to Chakrabarty’s help hearing him screams, had caught one Golam Faizullah Fahim, who, according to police, was involved with the banned militant group, Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Police, based on information given by Fahim, had started a case over the attempted murder against six people.

On Jun 17, a court granted police 10 days to question Fahim in custody.
 
But the next morning, Fahim was shot dead in a ‘shootout’ at Bahadurpur Union, police claimed.
 
Madaripur SP Sarwar Hossain had said Fahim had spoken of a Hizb ut-Tahrir hideout at Bahadurpur Union’s Miarchar while being interrogated.
 
Police made Fahim accompany them on a raid on the hideout, he said. “Hizb ut-Tahrir operatives opened fire in an attempt to snatch Fahim, forcing the police to retaliate. Fahim was caught in the cross-fire.”
 

Injured teacher Ripon Chakrabarty. File Photo

Golam Faizullah Fahim. File photo

Fahim, who lived with his family in Uttara’s Dakshinkhan, was reported missing by his parents five days before the attack on Chaktabarty.

According to his father, who had filed a General Diary with police over his disappearance, Fahim had left home, saying he was ‘going abroad’.