Former Commanding Officer of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-11, Colonel Tareque Sayeed Mohammad, confessed his involvement in the Narayanganj seven-murder to a court in Narayanganj on Wednesday.
The court of Narayanganj Senior Judicial Magistrate KM Mohiuddin recorded his confessional statement at around 12noon on the day.
The RAB officer described the incident of abduction and killings of the seven people in his confessional statement under section 164 of Code of Criminal Procedure, reports our Narayanganj correspondent.
Confirming Tareque’s confession, President of Narayanganj Lawyers’ Association Sakhawat Hossain said, after recording his confessional statement, the court sent Tareque to jail.
Earlier, Shakhawat Hossain Khan along with some lawyers filed a murder case in connection with the murders.
The former RAB official was brought to the court premises at around 8am and took 4 hours to take the final decision, said Sakhawat.
Tareque was remanded for the sixth time on Saturday since his arrest on May 17 in connection with the gruesome murders. With the fresh remand, Tareque’s remand period in two cases has totalled 34 days.
Earlier, the other two former RAB officials Major Arif Hossain and Lt Commander SM Masud Rana made confessional statements to a Narayanganj court under the section 164 on June 4 and 5 respectively.
On May 17, police arrested Colonel Tareque along with another RAB official Major Arif from Dhaka Cantonment and Commander SM Rana arrested the following day from the same area for their alleged involvement in the abduction and killing of seven people.
They were arrested under section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Tareque and Arif were charged with the murders on May 22 while Rana on May 25.
On April 27, Nazrul Islam, Panel Mayor of Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC), his three aides and driver and senior lawyer Chandan Sarkar and his driver were kidnapped from the Dhaka-Narayanganj link road in Narayanganj separately.
Three days later, six bodies were found floating in the Shitalakkhya river. The other body was recovered from the river the following day. Of the two cases filed in connection with the killings, one was filed by Nazrul’s wife Selina Yasmin and the other case by Chandan Sarkar’s colleagues.
The allegations of the trio’s involvement into the abduction and killings came into light when Nazrul’s father-in-law claimed to the media that RAB men committed the crime in exchange of Tk 6 crore from Nur Hossain and other accused.
Following the allegation, the Arms Forces Division (AFD) sent the three RAB officers to forced retirement on May 6.
