Former Jatiya Party MP Kader masterminded Gaibandha MP Liton's killing: Police

Former Jatiya Party MP Abdul Kader Khan is behind the killing of Gaibandha Awami League MP Manjurul Islam Liton, police say.

Kader, a Jatiya Party presidium member, was arrested on Tuesday at his residence in Bogra city.

He was produced before a Gaibandha court on Wednesday, when police secured a 10-day remand to interrogate him.

At a media briefing on Wednesday in Gaibandha, Rangpur Range Police chief Khandaker Golam Faruq said it was the former MP from the same constituency, who had masterminded the killing 'to clear his path for election'.

Police also said Kader was also planning to murder the Jatiya Party candidate, Shamim Haider Patwary, for the Sundarganj by-election after his failure to get the party ticket.

The MP Liton murder case was 'solved' following a loaded magazine left by muggers, police say 52 days after the incident.

"Kader Khan had been planning the assassination for the last one year. The four assailants were trained for six months in a warehouse," said Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Faruq.

He said three of the four assailants − Kader Khan's chauffer Abdul Hannan, 27, his residence's supervisors Shahin Mia, 23, and Rashedul Islam alias Mehedi Hasan, 22, − 'confessed to murdering Liton' before a magistrate court following their arrests.

Kader has been arrested on the basis of their statements, the senior police officer told the media.

The other assailant 'Rana' is still at large, he added.

On the evening of Dec 31, unidentified assailants shot the ruling party MP from Gaibandha-1 (Sundarganj) constituency at his home several times.

He died an hour later at a hospital in Rangpur.

Sundarganj Police Station OC Md Atiar Rahman told the media that muggers left a magazine loaded with six bullets while robbing a mobile phone at Naya Bazar in Sundarganj late on Dec 1.

Following the lead, police asked Kader to submit his licensed pistol and bullets to the police station.

Kader submitted 10 of 40 rounds bullets he had bought but failed to explain why he could not provide the other bullets, the OC said.

"Besides this lead, we've also found similarity between Kader's bullets and those used in killing Liton," he added.

DIG Faruq said Shahin, Mehedi and Hannan were arrested at Bogra's Bridge Road early on Tuesday in connection with the mugging.

"Later they described the killing of Liton to police during the initial interrogation," he said.

Faruq said driver Hannan helped the three others, who directly took part in the murder, flee.

He said police recovered a pistol, a magazine, a shotgun cover and 10 bullet shells, a helmet, a hat, a mobile-phone SIM card and one of the three motorcycles used in the murder.

The DIG said the other's involvement, if there is any, in the murder will be found in the investigation.

OC Atiar said Kader has given the killers Tk 300,000 until now and promised to give them more once he becomes an MP again.

"Mehedi confessed to firing five rounds at MP Liton," he said.

Other senior police officers of Gaibandha, Liton's wife Syed Khurshid Jahan Smrity, sister Tahmida Bulbul Kakoli and local leaders of the Awami League were also present at the news briefing.

Former Bangladesh Army colonel and a doctor by training, Kader is a presidium member of Jatiya Party.

He got the party's nomination in the past two elections but this time the opposition in Parliament has picked its Chairman HM Ershad's legal adviser Shamim Haider Patwary to run for the Gaibandha by-polls after the seat fell vacant following Liton's death.

The ruling party has chosen its Sundarganj Upazila unit General Secretary Golam Mostafa Ahmed for the by-election slated for Mar 22.

Kader had collected a nomination paper for the by-polls, but at end did not submit it, said the Returning Officer GM Mahtab Uddin.

The deadline to file nominations ended on Feb 19.

But four days prior to that, 20 to 25 policemen were deployed at Kader's home in Bogra City citing 'security concerns over a possible militant attack'.

Law-enforces kept his residence cordoned-off until Tuesday afternoon when he was arrested.

A joint team of Detective Branch and units from Bogra and Gaibandha police arrested him at a four-storey building at the city's Rahman Nagar. The building houses his clinic and residence.

On Monday, Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoqe told the media at Dhaka's Savar that arrests over the killing will be made soon as the assailants have been identified.

Second round of search at Kader's residence

During the wee hours of Wednesday, the former MP's Bogra home was searched for a second time, said Gaibandha police.

The search started at midnight and continued until 4:30am on Wednesday, said OC Mahbubul Alam of Gaibandha police's Special Branch. 

"We have seized laptops, mobile phones and DVR and hard disks for CCTV cameras."

Mohammad Wahed Ali, an employee of the clinic, said eight to 10 law enforcers, including Gaibandha Assistant Superintendent of Police Rezinur Rahman, came around 12am and said they will search the house.

"Sir's (Kader Khan) wife Dr Nasima Begum cooperated. They searched the bedroom on the third floor and seized mobile phones of Nasima Begum and three other clinic staffers."

Wahed said the policemen told them the mobile phones will be returned within a day or two.

A search was conducted on Tuesday afternoon, when police arrested Kader but nothing was seized then.

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