The police could not identify the killers of Jatiyatabadi Swechchhasebak Dal leader Azizur Rahman Musabbir till Thursday night, a day after he was shot dead by unidentified assailants in an alley in the Tejturibazar area in Dhaka on Wednesday.
The police suspected ‘extortion’ behind the murder, while leaders of Swechchhasebak Dal, the volunteer wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, suspected that political opponents were behind the murder.
‘The murder occurred due to extortion. How can it be a political murder,’ inspector general of police Baharul Alam told New Age on Thursday.
Swechchhasebak Dal secretary Rajib Ahsan, however, suspected that political opponents were involved in the murder.
‘Some similar incidents have occurred in Dhaka and other places recently. We are not pointing at anyone in particular, but it is natural for us to be suspicious of those who are our opponents in politics,’ he told New Age.
Musabbir’s wife, Suraiya Begum, filed a case with Tejgaon police station on Thursday morning against four or five unidentified suspects, the police said.
The police have so far spotted two suspects in CCTV footage and are trying to identify them.
They said that they were also investigating to know the motive behind the killing.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s deputy commissioner for Tejgaon division, Ibne Mizan, told reporters on Thursday that one person’s face was somewhat visible in the CCTV footage.
‘If he can be identified, it will lead to significant progress in the investigation,’ he said.
Mizan said that one bullet hit Musabbir’s elbow and another hit his abdomen, while another victim, Abu Sufian, was shot in the abdomen.
Musabbir, joint general secretary of Swechchhasebak Dal’s Dhaka north unit, and Abu Sufian, general secretary of Karwan Bazar Van Association, were shot at about 8:20pm in front of the Ahsanullah Institute of Technical and Vocational Education and Training centre in the Tejturibazar area, beside Star Kabab on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue near Karwan Bazar.
The police and eyewitnesses said that Musabbir and Sufian were heading towards the main road through the alley when two miscreants, who were already waiting in a small dark lane in front of the AITVET centre, opened fire on them before fleeing the scene.
Both Musabbir and Sufian then ran back into the alley and collapsed after going a short distance.
They were taken to BRB Hospital at Panthapath, where Musabbir was declared dead.
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said in a condolence message over Musabbir’s death that such horrific incidents were being repeated just to put the government in an awkward position.
‘There is a deliberate attempt to create instability in the country, and this murder is a cruel manifestation of that effort. Such violence is putting the country’s law and order situation at severe risk and increasing insecurity among ordinary people,’ he said in the message.
A large number of party leaders and activists attended the funeral prayers of Musabbir held in front of the BNP central office at Naya Paltan in Dhaka at about 2:30pm on Thursday.
