Listed criminal killed in "crossfire" with policeA listed criminal of the district was killed in a "crossfire" between police and his accomplices in Rangunia upazila under the district early yesterday. Detective Branch police led by Additional Police Super Jahangir Hossain Matubber arrested Md Salim alias "Karate Salim", 34, along with his three accomplices from a hotel in the city's Chawk Bazar area on Saturday night, police said.
| "Evening, boys. Stick'um up!" |
| Of course, when else would you go looking for criminals hidden arms? |
| Bang bang bangity bang! |
| "He's dead, Jim" |
adding that Constable Wahiduzzaman was also bullet-hit during the incident. Police seized a local made gun, one LG and seven bullets from the spot. Karate Salim was accused in over 13 criminal cases.
RAB nabs Juba Dal leader
The Rapid Action Battalion has arrested a Juba Dal leader in Rangpur on charge of gun attack on a businessman in 2003. The police said Nazmul Alam, senior vice president of district unit of Juba Dal, youth front of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was arrested from his residence at Guptapara in the town Saturday night. He was charged for the attack on Moslem Uddin on November 5, 2003. Later, a local court sent Nazmul to jail.
Another shady case of Rab 'crossfire'
The killing of a plumber in Rab 'crossfire' on May 11 in Narsingdi has now taken a new turn with witnesses saying it was a murder in cold blood. "The Rab men fired a couple of rounds in the air and then fired Nazmul in cold blood shoving him to the ground with a foot on his chest," a witness told The Daily Star in the locality this week.
| Yeah, that's about what I figure normally happens |
They said Nazmul, armed and accompanied by several friends, gathered near a water tank at the BSCIC area with the aim to commit muggings. The Rab also claimed to have recovered a pistol from Nazmul's possession and arrested two youths--Nurul Islam Dulal and Sohel Miah--from the spot. Witness accounts, however, gave a totally different picture.
| Should have picked a more deserted spot |
"Nazmul was talking to two motorbikers--Dulal and Sohel--at around 3:00pm when a few Rab men came there in plainclothes," an employee of one of the mills at the BSCIC, who was walking to a tea-stall, said on condition of anonymity. "Nazmul did not recognise them as Rab men and engaged into an altercation with them," said a shopkeeper in the locality, adding that Nazmul traded heated words with them and at one point pushed one of the Rab members.
The Rab men then put on their Rab jackets and identified themselves to the youths, the witnesses said. Realising the mistake, Nazmul got down on his knees and begged the Rab men for his life, said another witness who was standing some 100 yards from the spot. "The Rab members then held the three youths and dragged Nazmul to a nearby crop field," said the mill-employee. "The Rab men first fired into the air and then shot Nazmul pinning him to the ground with a foot on his chest," he added.
| Shot in the air being "fired upon", triggering the "crossfire" |
The following day, Subedar Sarwar Jahan of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) filed a case with the Shibpur PS and handed over Dulal and Sohel along with a pistol and their motorbike. In the FIR (first information report) Sarwar said that, acting on a tip-off, he along with Sub-Inspector (SI) Jahangir Uddin, Corporals Khairul, Anwar Hossain, Ershaduzzaman and Mosharraf, Lance Nayek Harun, Sepoys Nur Mohammad and Jabed Ali went to the spot at around 2:30pm. The Rab members were informed that some armed youths had gathered at the BSCIC area to commit some criminal activities, he said in the FIR.
As the Rab men reached the spot, the youths, sensing their presence, opened fire indiscriminately from the water tank, prompting the Rab members to counter with bullets, the FIR said. During the shootout, the Rab men held three youths, one Nazmul- bullet-wounded with a pistol in his hand, it said. Nazmul was taken to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital where the doctors declared him dead.
| "He's dead, Jim." |
"We were inside our shop and heard a couple of gunshots," said one of the FIR witnesses. "After the firing, some Rab men came to me and asked me to go with them," he said, adding, "Going to the field, I saw a youth lying dead and the Rab men showed us a pistol saying they had recovered it from him." Another FIR witness also said the same while the third one went to his village home during the investigation.
| I believe this is known as "creating witnesses" |
SI Rafiqul Islam, the Investi-gation officer (IO) of the case, told The Daily Star that he had submitted the charge-sheet in the arms case stating that a pistol was found in the possession of the youths. He also said that he brought the two arrestees, who are now in Narsingdi jail, on remand and made an investigation in the locality. He, however, refused to reveal his findings but hinted that those are similar to that in the FIR. When asked about the findings of The Daily Star investigation, Major Anis, in-charge of Rab-3 at the Adamjee camp which conducts operations in the Narsingdi area, said he does not have anything to say beyond what has been said in the FIR.
Both Palash and Shibpur police stations admitted that they did not have any criminal records against Nazmul, who was also the vice-president of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal Charsindur union unit. Nazmul went to Saudi Arabia and came back in 2001. Since then, he was working in a factory near the Ghorasal fertiliser factory and has also been a contractor in the locality. At his village, this correspondent found Nazmul was regarded as an amicable and friendly person. "I want justice," said Nazmul's wailing mother, adding, "You wouldn't find such a charming, gentle and lively youth in the village."
| Yeah, yeah, "good boy, kind to his mother, reads his koran daily, etc". |
2-km crack in Jessore village creates panic
Panic has gripped several thousand people in Dalennagar and Andalpota villages in Jessore sadar upazila as a crack has developed on the earth surface of the area stretching about two kilometres. The crack is up to two feet wide and 10-14 feet deep at places, villagers told this correspondent yesterday. The area is about 20 kilometres off the district town. They said the stretch of the crack is increasing.
| I'd take that as a sign to move |
| Signs and portents, next comes the giant firebreathing lizards |
| There goes the property values. |
| In the movie version, we'd expect a bright young scientist to predict doom, the local politicians to surpress the report and the scientist to team with a beautiful journalist to save the day. |