 Murder accused killed in Rab 'crossfire'
An accused in college student Momin murder case was killed in a 'crossfire' between the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and his gang in city's Kafrul early yesterday. The dead, Shah Alam alias Haji Shah Alam, 25, was the number two accused in the case filed for the murder of Dhaka Commerce College student Kamrul Islam Momin. Former officer-in-charge of Motijheel Police Station AKM Rafiqul Islam is the prime accused in the case. A close associate of top criminal Kala Jahangir, Alam stood accused in 16 cases including five for murder and four for robbery. | "I have the death sentence on twelve systems." |
Hasibul Haque Johnny, detained in connection with Momin killing, told a magistrate under 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) that someone had hired Alam to kill Momin.
Momin's family has all along been alleging that OC Rafiq had paid the Alam gang to kill Momin over a land dispute between Rafiq and Momin's family. | Nothing like a good, old-fashioned range war between clans |
Momin's brother Shamsul Islam said if Alam were alive, he could have helped in identifying the mastermind behind the killing. "Rab told me that they tried to nab Alam alive, but failed," Shamsul told The Daily Star.
A team of Rab-4 arrested Alam at the north gate of Baitul Mukarram Mosque on Monday afternoon. During interrogation by Rab he spoke about his accomplices, arms and ammunition, said a Rab press release. Following up the information, Rab men took him to Bou Bazar Dhal in Kafrul area at around 4:00am yesterday to recover firearms. As the Rab team reached the area, Alam's accomplices opened fire on them. The law enforcers under attack returned fire, setting off a fierce shootout, added the press release. At one stage, Alam got in line of fire while trying to escape from Rab. He received five bullets in the chest and died on the spot. Police recovered the body of Shah Alam at about 10:00am and sent it to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy. Rab recovered one firearm, three bullets and two empty bottles of phensidyle from the scene. |