Man killed in Cumilla ‘gunfight’

A suspected robber was killed in a reported gunfight between his cohorts and police at Raipur in Daudkandi upazila in Cumilla early Wednesday, reports UNB.

The deceased is Rubayet Hossain Babul, son of Imam Hossain of Madhabdi upazila in Narsingdi district.

Daudkandi police station officer-in-charge Mizanur Rahman claimed a team of police arrested two robbers Babul and Maruf Ahmed from Dhaka's Uttara area on Monday in connection with their alleged involvement in mugging a covered van of export oriented fabrics from Daudkandi area.

Later, police along with two others conducted a drive on Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Raipur area around 3:00am to nab their associates.

Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, associates of Babul opened fire to police prompting them to retaliate that triggered a gunfight.

Babul caught in the line of fire while he was trying to flee the scene and sustained bullet injures.

Later, he died on the way to Cumilla Medical College Hospital, police said.

Four policemen including Nurul Islam, sub-inspector of Daudkandi police station, were injured during the gunfight.

Police also recovered one pipe gun and a bullet from the spot.

Babul was wanted in 22 cases field with different police stations in Narayanganj and Narsingdi.

The news agency UNB reported on Tuesday that five people were killed in separate alleged gunfights with police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in three districts.

The law enforcement’s version of the events was, however, not verified independently as no version of the incident was available immediately either from any witnesses or from any members of the victim’s family.