Staff Reporter :
The name of slain militant was Mukul Rana, not Shariful — who was killed in a so-called crossfire in the city’s Meradia area in the small hours of Saturday, family members of the deceased confirmed on Monday.
Police earlier had claimed that he was directly involved in the murdering of two bloggers — Avijit Roy and Niladri Niloy. After analyzing video footage, his presence was seen in the crime spot where Avijit Roy was killed.
Besides, the slain militant, who usually used five more names, was also involved in murdering seven other bloggers and free-thinkers, including gay magazine Rupban’s Editor Xulhas Mannan, the police had also claimed.
But the claim of police now turns into shambles when victim’s family members said that they were not sure whether Mukul Rana had joined in any militant outfit after coming to Dhaka from his village home Satkhira.
Earlier in the morning, victim’s brother-in-law Hedayetul Islam and cousin Rahmat went to hospital to receive the body. At that time, they identified him as Mukul Rana, hailed from Baluigachhi village under Dhulihar union in the district of Satkhira. They also said Mukul Rana was second year student of English Department at Satkhira Govt College. He has one brother and one sister. Mukul went to Satkhira February this year for marrying and returned to Dhaka again.
The family members also said that they were totally unaware about publishing of his picture as a ‘wanted’ in the newspaper. They came to Dhaka from Satkhira after seeing the picture of the victim’s body in the television.
Hedayetullah said that victim’s [Mukul Rana] national ID No: 19938718254000068 where father’s name mentioned as Abul Kalam Azad and mother’s name Mosammat Shakhina Begum. His date of birth is November 25, 1993.
Principal of Satkhira Govt College Md Liakat Parvez said: “As per document in the college, his name has been registered as Md Mukul Rana. He passed SSC and HSC in 2008 and 2010 respectively.
Father of victim Abul Kalam Azad, who works in a shrimp project, said: “I came to know about my son after seeing television news on Sunday. My son had been missing since February 23. Some unidentified people picked him up on the day from Basundia area of Jessore.”
Sister of victim Sharmeen Hossain Rimi said that her brother [Mukul Rana] was very brilliant. He obtained GPA-5 in SSC and HSC examinations.
Additional Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Didar Ahmed said, “Deceased Shariful was secretly involved in militancy using different fake names. He was coordinator of six killings, including Avijit Roy.”
He said, the militant was seen in the CCTV footage which was recovered after the killings. Of the six wanted militants, Shariful was the second in ranking for whom the police headquarters declared bounty for them.
