SP Babul Aktar unreachable after being relieved of duties

Superintendent of Police (SP) Babul Aktar, who has been relieved of his duties, is unreachable.

The terror-busting decorated officer did not take calls on his mobile phone after the home ministry in a circular on Tuesday afternoon said Babul had been relieved on his plea to retire.

After his wife Mahmuda Aktar Mitu's brutal murder in Chittagong three months ago, Babul, along with their two children, had moved into his in-laws' in Dhaka's Banasree.

But he is also not at home. His father-in-law Mosharraf Hossain, a former police inspector, told bdnews24.com in the evening, "Babul left home in the afternoon. He hasn't returned yet."

Mosharraf said he saw the news on the home ministry circular. But he does not know anything beyond it.

Though the home ministry said Babul asked to be relieved of duties, some media reports said he was retired.

The counter-terror officer, lauded for his work against militancy operations in Chittagong, was promoted and moved to Police Headquarters in the capital only a few days before his wife was murdered.

On the morning of Jun 5, Mitu was walking their 6-year-old son to the school bus when she was stopped by assailants near GEC Intersection in the port city.

She was stabbed and then shot in the head as one of her attackers pulled the child out of the way.

Babul had started a case over the murder.

Twenty days after the murder, the SP was taken to the Detective Branch offices in Dhaka for questioning that lasted for almost 14 hours.

Then Babul did not go to office for one and a half months. Media reports at the time said he had resigned, but both he and police authorities were mum on the matter.

Amid the speculations, Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque went on record to say Babul did not want to continue with his job, but media reports suggested that he was forced to hand in a resignation letter.

In the meantime, Babul was seen at the Police Headquarters, but senior officials said he did not resume work.

Amid the rumours swirling over Bangladesh, some of which suggested that the police officer himself was a suspect, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said on Aug 14 that his ministry had received Babul’s resignation letter

Babul had been tight-lipped over the issue until Aug 13, when he took the social media to express himself.

“I hear my daughter’s cries, all her lamenting, when so many are busy making up new stories...I’m not wearing any armour, I’m holding in my arms two children who have lost their mother...I can neither bear, nor stop these assaults,” he had posted on Facebook.

Police initially suspected militants might be behind the murder of his wife, but after making several arrests, they now say they are yet to find the motive.

SP Babul Aktar relieved of duties