A high-powered government committee, which was formed at the directive of the High Court to inquire into the seven-murder in Narayanganj, will interrogate Director General of Rapid Action Battalion [RAB] Mokhlesur Rahman today [Monday]. The inquiry committee of the Ministry of Public Administration on Sunday asked RAB DG to be present personally at Secretariat [Eden Building] at 2:30pm. “We [the committee] will take the statement of RAB DG over the incident,” Shahjahan Ali Mollah, Head of the Inquiry Committee and Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, said yesterday. The RAB DG’s statement will be recorded by the committee. “The investigation is now on final stage. We hope to submit the report by next month. If there is no other vital witness, the RAB DG might be the last person to give statement before us [the committee],” Mollah said. The RAB DG has been summoned eight days after his denial about the involvement of RAB headquarters, particularly his second-in-command Col Ziaul Ahsan, who is Additional DG of RAB, in the killing of seven people.
On April 27, Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam and six others, including lawmaker Chandan Sarkar, were kidnapped and killed allegedly by a RAB team led by the then Commanding Officer of Battalion-11 [posted in Narayanganj] Lt Col Tareque Sayeed Mohammad.
Their bodies were found floating on the Shitalakkhya River after a few days.
When contacted, RAB DG yesterday said, “It is normal that an inquiry committee over such matter can take the statement of the organizational head when some members of RAB have already been accused in the incident.”
On July 17, the same inquiry committee had questioned Col Zia in connection with the seven murders.
