Staff Reporter :
Police are still in a dark about the killing of the ruling party’s youth front Jubo League (JL) activist Kazi Rashed in the city’s Mohakhali area early Sunday.
The members of the law enforcing agencies could not find any link with the bullet hit body of local JL activist Rashed found near the JL Banani Than unit office, said Farid Uddin, Investigation Officer (IO) of the case and Sub-Inspector of the Banani Police Station.
They have failed to trace the assailants even after two days of the body recovery, the IO said.
“We are investigating the incident to unearth the motive of the killing,” the police official said.
In a query, he categorically said that Rashed might have been killed by Banani JL Joint Convener Yusuf Sardar Sohel. He also said they did not pick up anybody in connection with the murder.
Family members alleged that 32-year old Rashed was killed by JL leader Sohel, with whom he had a long-standing feud.
Detectives said there was evidence suggesting that Rashed was actually killed inside the Banani office of Jubo League and his body was dumped near his home. His home is 100 yards from the office. “We have seen blood inside the Banani party office,” said the deceased mother Rabeya Begum.
Residents of the neighbourhood spotted the bullet-hit body near his flat at Mohakhali around 5:30am and informed the police, said Rafiqul Islam, Assistant Commissioner (Gulshan Zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
Rashed’s wife Kazi Mousumi said that Rashed had enmity with Banani JL Joint Convener Yusuf Sardar Sohel over the last three years. Sohel and Rashed were relatives as well as good friends, but Rashed distanced himself from Sohel after he became an alcoholic, she said.
Sohel was very critical of it and “a conflict arose between them,” according to her.
She added that Sohel had walloped Rashed up on multiple occasions in the past three years.
Locals and other family members of the slain JL leader corroborated the account. Mousumi filed a case with Banani Police Station accusing Sohel and several others, said AC Rafiqul. “We are trying to arrest Sohel and his associates,” he added. A number of locals and family members said that Rashed and Sohel grew up together. They went to South Africa together and stayed there for six years after the BNP-led government assumed power in 2001.
On September 16, 2016, Sohel was arrested for shooting a rickshaw puller in the leg. He was released on bail three days later. In 2012, Sohel was accused of shooting three JL men, including then JL General Secretary Zakir Hossain of the area, on July 1 of that year.
Neighbours said Sohel and Rashed used to be the part of a group. But rifts arose after they parted from others.
Abul Hossain, father of the Rashed, said that Sohel and some other influential JL leaders left the area and went hiding by keeping udder-key and lock of the party office soon after finding the body. The JL office’s all CC camaers were off after murder, he said.
