The probe body, formed by the government to investigate the alleged involvement of law enforcers, including RAB officials, in the Narayanganj seven-murder incident, interrogated Dhaka divisional commissioner Zillar Rahman on Tuesday. The seven-member probe body, headed by Public Administration Ministry additional secretary Shahjahan Ali Mollah, interrogated him at Mollah’ s Secretariat office from 10:15am to 11:30am.
Talking to UNB, Shahjahan Mollah said they, during the interrogation, asked the divisional commissioner about his perspective of the sensitive seven-murder incident and received some important recommendations from him to prevent such incidents in the future.
The probe body chief, however, declined to give any detail of the interrogation. Shahjahan Mollah said there has been a lot of progress in the investigation as over 400 people were interrogated since the probe body started working on May 7.
About further interviews, Shahjahan said the probe body will interrogate all the RAB officials who have recently been arrested in connection with the seven-murder case.
The probe body has already quizzed three former RAB-11 officials- Tarek Sayeed Mohammad, Arif Hossain and MM Rana.
Six more RAB personnel have been arrested in connection with the Narayanganj multiple-murder case on August 27. They are Habildar Emdadul Haque, Radio Operator Arif Hossain, Lance Nayek Md Hira Miah, Lance Nayek Billal Hossain, Lance Nayek Md Jalal and Sepoy Abu Taiyab.
The RAB men will be quizzed at jail gate, said Shahjahan Ali. Meanwhile, Lance Nayek Billal Hossain reportedly made his ‘confessional’ statement before a local court on Tuesday.
Senior judicial magistrate HM Shafiqul Islam recorded the statement of the RAB man.
In his statement, Billal described the whole episode of the abductions and killings of the seven people, claiming that he got involved in the incident only to execute to order of his senior officers.
The probe body chief also noted that the probe committee will submit its progress report to the High Court by September 9.
However, the probe committee will take further time to complete the final report as it is a sensitive case, he added. The Public Administration Ministry on May 7 formed the seven-member probe panel following a High Court order to look into the alleged involvement of Rab officials in the abductions and killings of seven people in Narayanganj. On April 27, Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam, his three associates and driver, were abducted by miscreants from Fatullah area of the city.
Hours after their abduction, senior lawyer at district Judge’s Court Chandan Kumar Sarker and his driver were also abducted on their way to capital Dhaka. Three days into their abduction, the bodies of six people, including that of Nazrul Islam and Chandan Kumar, were recovered from the Shitalakhya River on April 30. Besides, another body was recovered from the river on May 1.
