Police have arrested two persons, including a woman, who visited noted media personality Maulana Nurul Islam Farooqi hours before he was killed in his own house in the city’s Rajabazar on Wednesday night.
They were rounded up in Rupganj upazila under Narayanganj district on Saturday morning. They have been identified as Mahmuda Khatun, 50, and Shariful Islam. The latter was picked up from the upazila’s Murapara, police said.
Rupganj Police Station’s Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abdul Momin confirmed the news and said that a team from Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) conducted drives in Rupganj upazila and arrested Mahmuda and Shariful.
Police were looking for the woman after the family members informed that a lady introducing herself as Asma visited Faruqi’s East Rajabazar house in Dhaka just four hours before he was murdered on the day, the OC said.
The woman wanted to stay there at night but was refused. Subsequently, she left the house in the evening, victim’s son Faisal Faruqi told police quoting his mother.
A police team is conducting raids at different parts of the capital to arrest the suspects. Police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and several intelligence agencies are probing the gruesome murder focusing on several issues, including personal and religious rivalry, and financial feud over hajj, sources said.
After the killing, the leaders and activists of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, Islami Front and its student wing Bangladesh Islam Chhatra Sena (BICS) announced that they would enforce a countrywide hartal today (Sunday) if the killers were not arrested by Saturday. But the leaders later shortened the hartal time by four hours, considering the country’s worst flood situation.
Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Sena General Secretary Jamaluddun Rabbani and Bangladesh Islami Front Secretary General Maulana MA Matin said it at a press conference in Chittagong Press Club on Saturday afternoon. As per announcement, the hartal time will be of eight hours from 6:00am to 2:00pm.
On Wednesday night, a gang of unidentified armed assailants slaughtered Maulana Nurul Islam Farooqi, a presenter of religious programme on Channel i, in his residence in the capital’s East Rajabazar under Sher-e-Bangla Police Station. The deceased was the presidium member and International Affairs Secretary of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat.
