DG says RAB as a force not guilty of Narayanganj murders

RAB Director General Benazir Ahmed has claimed that his force is not responsible for the 2014 Narayanganj murders as some ‘misguided individuals’ within the force were involved in the crime.

Rangpur Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 20 Jan 2017, 04:09 PM
Updated : 20 Jan 2017, 08:02 PM

He also says the image of the elite force has not been tarnished by the convictions of those individuals who committed the crime.

"It was the RAB investigation that found them responsible. They were thrown out of the force. They were arrested. The RAB did not save or protect them," he said.

The elite police unit chief was speaking to the media at a winter cloth distribution programme in Rangpur on Friday.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan after the verdict had also said that the image of the RAB was in no way affected by the conviction.

Some 25 RAB personnel, including the then unit commander, have been convicted – 16 with death penalty – by court almost two years after the killings of seven people.

The total number of convictions in the case is 35, and 26 of them received death penalty.

In 2014, as many as seven people were murdered and their bodies dumped in the river Shitalakkhya in Narayanganj. According to the verdict, the local RAB officials in collusion with a local politician carried out the killings.

Since its inception in 2004, the force has courted controversies for allegedly carried out in extrajudicial killings.

Speaking to the press on Friday, Benazir said, "Human beings are not manufactured in factories. If some individual, tempted by some illegitimate gains, gets involved in crime, it is the individual's responsibility, not the RAB's."

He said in the past 13 years, many of its personnel have been punished and sacked when found guilty.

“When it comes to delivering justice, the RAB is uncompromisingly strict.”

Replying to a question on the cause of the rise of extremism in the northern region, he said that “it is a matter of social research”.

He revealed that the RAB and Dhaka University are conducting a joint research to delve into the problem and hoped that a solution would be found through the exercise.

Observing a revival of militant activities after 12 years, he said cooperation between society and security agencies is imperative to defeat the menace.