In police custody at night, 4 men dead, dumped next morning

In police custody at night, 4 men dead, dumped next morning

Dhaka, Oct 23 (Just News): Faruk Hossain was living with his wife and son in Purinda area of Araihazar, Narayanganj. He was earning a living serving as driver of Glory Paribahan bus that runs from Bhulta to Gulistan.

Faruk was picked up by a group of plainclothesmen from his house on Friday afternoon and later taken to Bhulta police outpost, his wife Taslima Begum said. Other witnesses said, three others were also detained.

Taslima went to Bhulta police outpost to see her husband with homemade foods on Saturday night.

The next morning, she came to know that the bullet-hit body of Faruk and those of three others were recovered from beside the highway in Araihazar upazilla.

Each of them was shot in the head from point-blank distance, their primary autopsy reports suggest.

The three other victims were identified as Zahirul Islam, Sabuj Sardar and Lutfur Rahman.

Local transport workers in Bhulta said they heard that bus-driver Faruk was killed in ‘crossfire’ by the police. A bus owner also visited the outpost and saw the dead bodies. Faruk’s father contacted the certain bus owner seeking help to release his son, the family said.

The bus owner, however, could not be reached for comments.

Officials of Bhulta police outpost and district police denied such allegations.

According to the police statements, they recovered four bullet-hit bodies from a place beside the Dhaka-Sylhet highway in Pachrukhi area of Araihazar upazila in Naranyanganj on Sunday morning.

The police recovered two loaded firearms and an abandoned microbus from the spot, they said.

One of the victims, Lutfur Rahman, was identified by his wife Reshma Akhter at Narayanganj General Hospital morgue on Sunday afternoon.

Lutfur was a microbus driver for many years, according to Reshma.

Faruk’s wife Taslima told Prothom Alo that, three relatives from their village Sabuj, Zahirul and Liton were staying at their house and they were picked up on Friday.

Liton is still missing and no one knows about his whereabouts.

Taslima said she did not know Lutfur Rahman, the microbus driver.

On Saturday, Taslima came to know from a bus owner that Faruk had been kept in Bhulta police outpost and went there with dinner items for her husband.

The police, first, barred her from meeting Faruk. But after her requests, the police let Taslima see her husband. Then, Faruk told her, “They (police) severely beat me. And so, I admitted everything (they wanted I do).”

Taslima could not, however, clarify what ‘everything’ meant.

Faruk’s father Jamal Uddin, Sabuj’s father Khairul Sardar and Zahirul’s father-in-law came to Narayanganj from Pabna on Saturday morning.

Jamal Uddin said he contacted with a bus owner through one of his nephews. The bus owner told him that all of them were kept in Bhulta police outpost.

“I requested the bus owner whether the police would send Faruk and others to court. After that, he acquired information and told me that all of them have been kept in the police outpost,” Jamal Uddin told Prothom Alo.

And then on Sunday morning the bus owner told Jamal Uddin that three of them were taken to somewhere else early in the morning and only one was kept in the outpost.

Faruk’s wife Taslima said she went to the outpost on Sunday morning and finding no one there, she started crying for her husband there. At that time, the police threatened her to open fire on her, she said.

Bhulta police outpost in-charge inspector Rafikul Islam told this correspondent that such incidents never took place.

Also the police superintendent of Narayanganj said, "Whoever are spreading such rumours, are telling lies."

The police, however, filed two cases against unknown miscreants under Murder and Arms Act following the killing.

Liton’s whereabouts

Liton was picked up with Faruk and two others on Friday. His brother Ripon told Prothom Alo that they heard Rupganj highway police recovered the body of an unknown man from the area and later buried it.

The body could be Liton’s and the family was trying to identify it, Ripon added.-Prothom Alo

 

(Justnews/ys/1400hr)