Staff Reporter :
Two persons were killed in separate ‘gunfights’ with the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in city’s Badda and Mirpur areas early Thursday.
Senior ASP Kamruzzaman of RAB- 1 said, Maharaz Khalifa, 40, a drug trader from Banani area, was killed in a gunfight with the elite force in Satarkul area of Badda around 1:15am.
A RAB team raided the area after being tipped off that Khalifa and his associates were there for drug dealings. The criminals opened fire as soon as the RAB team reached the spot, triggering a gunfight, he said.
Khalifa, injured in the gunfight, was arrested and taken to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital where physicians pronounced him dead around 3:15am.
Two firearms and 300 yaba pills were recovered from the spot. A member of RAB was injured during the gunfight, the RAB ASP claimed.
The other deceased was identified as Byanga Babu, 38, Second-in-Command of the notorious ‘Shahadat Bahini’, said Major Kazi Saifuddin Ahmed, Deputy Director of RAB-4. Babu was killed in an alleged gunfight with the law enforcement agencies in Beribadh area of Mirpur.
Byanga Babu, who had fled to India few years ago, recently returned to Dhaka to take part in a killing mission, said Kazi Saifuddin Ahmed.
Acting on a tip-off, a RAB team went to the spot. Babu was killed in an ensuing gunfight between RAB and the criminals around 3:15am, he said.
The deceased was wanted in 20 cases, including at least seven for murder, the RAB major said.
A pistol, a magazine and one round of bullet were recovered from the spot.
According to a human rights body, Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), at least 421 people were killed in alleged gunfights, crossfire or shootouts with the law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh in 2018.
In the first six months of 2019, the number of such killing was at least 200, the rights body said on its website.
