7 people were on killing mission

Police say quoting 'confessional statement of arrestee in Habiganj child killing

Paramchan Bibi mourns the death of her grandson Shubho at her village home in Bahubal upazila of Habiganj yesterday. Photo: Mintu Deshwara

Mintu Deshwara

The four children, killed in a Habiganj village on February 12, were first made unconscious and then strangled before being buried in a sand extraction area.
And a power struggle between two groups of the local panchayat (village arbitration) led to the brutal murders in Sundrateki village of Bahubal upazila, said Joydev Kumar Bhadra, superintendent of Habiganj police.
"Rubel and Arju, who have been arrested [in connection with the incident], confessed it before a [judicial magistrate's] court around 7:00pm today," he said at a press briefing yesterday evening.
"Five more people were involved in the killing mission," said the SP. They are Rubel Miah, 17, Arju Miah, 20, Shahed, 22, Ustar, 23, and Helal.
"They killed the children on orders from Abdul Ali."

Monir's mother Salema Begum mourns holding her son's clothes. Photo: Mintu Deshwara

It was Ali and a CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver named Bachchu who planned the killing, he added.
Bodies of the children -- Monir Miah, 7, Zakaria Shuvo, 8, Mohammad Tajel Mia, 10, and Ismail Miah, 10 -- were recovered from underneath sand on Wednesday, five days after they had gone missing from a playground in their village.
According to the district police chief, Abdul Ali leads one of the two rival groups that have long been at loggerheads over establishing supremacy in the area.
Khaleque Master, a retired schoolteacher, heads the other group. All the victims belonged to families loyal to him.
Bachchu used to be a supporter of Khaleque until he was expelled from the panchayat following a row with the leader.
To exact revenge, Bachchu then joined hands with Abdul Ali and they together worked out a plan to "teach Khaleque Master a lesson".
They decided to kill either Abdul Aziz, who is considered Khaleque's right-hand man, or his son Tajel Mia, Habiganj SP Joydev added.
On February 12, Tajel along with the three other victims went to the playground to watch a football match, which was later abandoned due to rain.
As they were returning home in the afternoon, Bachchu tricked them into his auto-rickshaw.
Rubel, Arju and some others soon joined Bachchu. They made the children unconscious using anaesthetic drugs and strangled them inside the three-wheeler.
They kept the bodies at Bachchu's garage for the night and buried them in a sand extraction area on Saturday night.

Ismail's mother Minara Khatun wails in disbelief at her son's murder. Shubho, Monir and Ismail are among the four kids who were killed on February 12 over a power struggle between two groups of the village panchayat. Their bodies were found five days later. Photo: Mintu Deshwara

After conducting autopsies, Debashish Das, resident medical officer of Habiganj Sadar Hospital, said, "Marks of torture were found in different parts of the bodies, but no sharp weapon was used."
As of Thursday night, five people -- including Rubel, Arju, Abdul Ali and his son -- were arrested in connection with the incident, according to the Habiganj SP.
Rubel and Arju have already been placed on 10-day remands.
'SPECIAL COURT TO TRY KILLERS'
Meher Afroz Chumki, state minister for women and children affairs, visited the victim families at Sundrateki yesterday afternoon.
After talking to spending some time with the bereaved family members, she told journalists that the case would be tried at a special tribunal.
Police were hunting for the culprits who had gone into hiding following the "heinous" murders, she said. "No one will be spared."
The state minister also said Tk 50,000 would be given to each of the victim families from the prime minister's special fund.
Local lawmakers Amatul Kibria Keya Chowdhury and Munim Chowdhury Babu, Habiganj Deputy Commissioner Sabina Alam ad SP Joydev Kumar Bhadra accompanied Chumki at the time.
FAMILIES STILL IN SHOCK
Visiting Sundrateki village yesterday, this correspondent found the mothers of the victims crying inconsolably.
Relatives and neighbours were trying to comfort them in vain.
Torn apart by the gross display of cruelty, some of the family members had even forgot to change their clothes or take daily meals.
As a result, some fell sick and a medical camp has been set up in the village by the Bahubal Health complex authorities to treat them. The four mothers were given intravenous saline on Thursday night.
LOCALS PROTEST
A few hundred locals yesterday formed a human chain at the spot where the kids were murdered.
They demanded that the culprits be immediately arrested and hanged.

Cop injured during raid on 'militant den' in city

A member of detective branch (DB) of police is injured as alleged miscreants attacked a team of DB in North Badda of Dhaka Friday evening. Photo: Shaheen Mollah

Staff Correspondent

An inspector of the Detective Branch of police was injured in an attack allegedly by militants during a raid on a flat at Uttar Badda in the capital last night.
The flat was being used as a militant den by members of banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), detectives claimed.
Two members of the outfit were arrested during the raid, DIG Monirul Islam, chief of Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told reporters last night.
However, their identities were not disclosed immediately.
The injured policeman is Baharuddin Faruqui, 45. With injuries in his hand and head, he was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and later shifted to a private hospital.
Monirul said on information that three ABT members were staying at a flat on the ground floor of the four-storey building at Badda's Purbo Para, a police team raided the flat around 8:00pm. Two members of the gang were present in the house, he added.
Baharuddin was hacked with sharp weapons by militants in a scuffle during the raid, he said.
Police recovered bags and packets from the flat. It could not be known what was there in those bags.
After the raid, law enforcers picked up house owner Hanif, a former engineer of Bangladesh Television, his son, and another person for questioning.
Although Monirul claimed that no one managed to flee during the raid, several eyewitnesses said they saw two men fleeing the scene during the raid.
Next to the house is Baitul Mamur Jame Masjid and president of the mosque's management committee, Mohammad Abu Taher, said he reached in front of the house around 8:00pm and saw locals handing a handcuffed man over to the police.
Soon two men came running and one of them had firearms in his both hands. He fired several shots from the guns before fleeing, Abu Taher added.
Wishing anonymity, another witness said he heard the fleeing men shouting, “Allahu Akbar.”
The attack on police happened three days after the Dhaka Metropolitan Police formed “Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit” for combating militancy and terrorism.
Meanwhile, following the Badda raid, police were raiding a house at Nabodoy Housing in the city's Mohammadpur as of filing of this report at 2:00am, according to Mohammadpur Police Station.

Pori Moni is Engaged!

Actress and Dhallywood star Pori Moni barely needs any introduction. She has been working on Gias Uddin Selim's upcoming movie Swapnojal for some time now and that is big news in the industry as it is. She has been shooting in Chandpur, Comilla for the movie and has decided to send a bigger shockwave in the industry.
She recently got engaged at Chandpur in what can be described as a “destination engagement” ceremony. She explained that it was a completely spontaneous decision to get engaged, in a rather poetic manner on the morning of Valentine's Day.
“Love comes into people's lives very suddenly and we decided to do this in order to make Valentine's Day a truly memorable event. My fiancé is a businessman, and not someone from the media industry. He has put a ring on my finger and I will provide further details later on,” she said.