Police arrest 2 more suspects in SP Babul’s wife’s murder case

Chittagong police say they have arrested two more suspects, including one who was an accomplice of the killers, in connection with the murder of SP Babul Aktar’s wife Mahmuda Aktar Mitu.

‘Shahjahan’ and ‘Saiful’ alias Safu Shikdar were nabbed from the port city and Rangunia, respectively, early on Friday, CMP’s Additional Commissioner Debdas Bhattacharya told bdnews24.com.

Quoting the confessional statements of Motaleb Mia Wasim and Anwar Hossain, two men arrested earlier, Bhattacharya said Shahjahan was involved in killing Mahmuda on Jun 5 morning in the city.

“And Saiful is the brother of Musa, one of the suspects in this case. Saiful had helped the killers buy the motorcycle they had used in carrying out the murder,” Bhattacharya said.

He added police would present the two men before a court later on Friday and seek a 10-day remand for them.

According to police officials, Wasim said Shahjahan was keeping watch in front of Niribili Hotel, a restaurant the opposite the crime scene, when Mahmuda was being murdered.

Shahjahan and ‘Musa’ are among the five suspects on whom police on Wednesday put a ban on leaving the country. The three others are ‘Rashed’, ‘Nabi’ and ‘Kalu’.

According to Wasim, he, Nabi, Kalu and Musa had directly taken part in the murder. “Nabi and Kalu stabbed Mahmuda and Wasim fired shots in the air,” officials said.

Some of the suspects were already in police custody, their relatives alleged. But the law enforcers rejected allegations of their detention or arrest.

A day after the brutal killing of SP Babul Aktar’s wife near GEC Intersection, police had claimed to have seized the motorcycle used by the killers from the Borho Garage area at Panchlaish.

Investigations revealed that the bike had been stolen from the home of one ‘Shahidullah’ at Boalkhali on May 8.

Later, the arrests of suspected motorcycle thieves ‘Rony’ and ‘Arif’ had led the detectives to nab several others in the murder case.

On Jun 26, police announced the arrests of Wasim and Anwar. In their confessional statements in court, they had said that the murder was carried based on Musa’s plan. They worked on the details, while Musa acquired the motorcycle.

Based on information they provided, police later said they had arrested Ehteshamul Haque Bhola, who allegedly supplied the murder weapons, and Monir Hossain.

Owing to SP Babul’s major role against extremists in Chittagong, police had first suspected that militants were behind his wife’s murder. But, now they say the hit was carried out by professional killers.

Law enforcers said Kamrul Islam Shikdar alias Musa, of Rangunia’s Madhyam Ghagrha, is accused in at least eight cases including on murder and robbery charges.