The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) has solved the killing of an auto-rickshaw driver in a robbery in Kapasia, Gazipur. Two people directly involved in the killing have been arrested, along with recovery of the stolen auto-rickshaw and evidence used in the murder. A third person, Md Kibria, 42, has also been arrested on charges of buying and harboring the stolen vehicle.
PBI said the victim, Ataur Rahman Ata, 60, was a farmer and battery-run auto-rickshaw driver from the Mizzanagar area of Kapasia upazila. He left home with his auto-rickshaw on the afternoon of Thursday, August 20, to earn his living. Before 8 p.m., robbers seized him in front of a secluded banana grove near Dakshingaon Mizzanagar Girls’ High School in Sonmania union and brutally killed him. They then fled with his auto-rickshaw and a button phone.
Unable to bear the news of her son’s death, Ataur Rahman’s 75-year-old mother, Zahura Khatun, also suffered cardiac arrest and died. The deaths of mother and son on the same day caused grief and shock in the area.
After a case was filed at Kapasia police station, a PBI team began investigating under the overall direction of PBI chief, Additional IGP Md Mostafa Kamal, and the supervision of Md Rakibul Akter, superintendent of police for PBI’s Gazipur district unit. Based on advanced ICT work, digital forensics and confidential information, two people directly involved in the killing were arrested Friday night, August 21, from the Chalar Bazar and Narottampur areas of Kapasia.
The two arrested are Rajib Khan, 29, son of Razzak Khan of Bhagtia Chalar Bazar village under Kapasia police station, and Nakibul Hasan, alias Rakib, 24, son of Nasir Uddin of the Mizzanagar area.
Based on information they provided, the stolen auto-rickshaw was recovered from a shop called Al-Madina Enterprise in the Hatirdiya bus stand area under Monohardi police station, Narsingdi. The shop’s owner, Md Kibria, 42, was arrested on charges of buying and harboring the stolen auto-rickshaw. Also recovered from the accused were 22,000 taka in cash from the sale of the auto-rickshaw, along with an iron rod, a hammer and rope used in the killing.
The arrested Rajib Khan and Nakibul Hasan gave voluntary confessional statements in court under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In their statements, they said they were burdened by debt and planned to rob an auto-rickshaw, choosing Ataur Rahman as an easy target because he was a distant relative of Nakibul’s.
According to the plan, they called Ataur Rahman on the afternoon of August 20 and lured him to the secluded banana grove. There, they strangled him with rope and struck him repeatedly on the head with an iron rod and hammer, killing him. They then washed the auto-rickshaw clean in the Hatirdiya area of Narsingdi and sold it to Kibria for 42,000 taka, splitting the money between themselves.
Md Rakibul Akter, superintendent of police in charge of PBI’s Gazipur district unit, said: “The killing of an innocent auto-rickshaw driver, followed immediately by the death of his grief-stricken mother, is an extremely tragic and heartbreaking incident. The criminals thought they would get away with committing the murder in a secluded location. But through PBI’s professionalism and skilled use of modern technology, we were able to arrest the main suspects behind this sensational double death, and recover important evidence, within just 24 hours.”
He further said: “We are investigating whether anyone else was involved in the killing. The investigation is being carried forward so that a proper charge sheet can be submitted to the court as quickly as possible, to ensure the criminals receive exemplary punishment.”
The case investigation is being supervised by Md Rakibul Akter, superintendent of police in charge of PBI’s Gazipur district unit. The investigating officer is Police Inspector (unarmed) Mohammad Mostafizur Rahman Ansari.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report