Arav brought the sacks used to burn inspector Mamun’s body

Police inspector Mamun Emran Khan’s ‘friend’ Rahamat Ullah invited him to a house in Banani saying it was a friend’s birthday celebration. Three women were already there in the house as planned. Five, including Didar, Atik and Swapan, were hiding in another room in the house. Their target was taking compromising photos of Mamun with these women and using the pictures to blackmail him.

Rabiul Islam, who became known as Arav Khan in recent times, was keeping an eye on the whole incident standing a little away from the house. It was his house. However, he claimed it to be his office.

Failing to trap inspector Mamun, Rahamatullah along with Didar and Atik tied him up and beat him up severely out of desperation. Mamun died that very night. Later, Rabiul brought two sacks and a white cloth on Rahamatullah’s instructions. Then, they put the body in the sack and took it to a jungle in Gazipur, doused it with petrol and set it on fire. This information of the body being burned has been obtained from the charge-sheet of the case and sources affiliated with the investigation.

According to the sources in the investigation agency, those three women and Rahamat Ullah were co-actors in a television show named ‘Crime Fiction’. Mamun got acquainted with them on the set of the programme. Rabiul, Rahamtullah and their associates planned to trap Mamun taking advantage of their acquaintance with him.

Police inspector Mamun was killed in Banani on 7 July 2018. His brother lodged a murder case as the plaintiff three days after the incident.

At the end of the investigation, police submitted the charge-sheet to the court against 10, including Rahmat Ullah and Rabiul Islam alias Apan alias Shohag alias Hridoy, on 31 March 2019. Rabiul was mentioned as absconding in the charge sheet. Later, the court issued an arrest warrant against Rabiul.

Following that, Rabiul convinced a man from Chandpur named Abu Yusuf to surrender to the court in his place, offering various inducements. However, after serving nine months in jail, Abu Yusuf admitted that he was not the actual Rabiul Islam. His real name was Abu Yusuf and Rabiul persuaded him to surrender to the court taking Rabiul's identity.

Following that, the court ordered the detective branch (DB) of the police to investigate the matter and submit a report on this.

The DB police found that Rabiul was from the Ashutia village of Hiron union in Kotalipara upazila of Gopalganj. Abu Yusuf, who surrendered to the court using Rabiul’s name and identity, was from Ainpur village in Kachua, Chandpur. Abu Yusuf is the son of Nuruzzaman and Halima Begum.

Relevant police officials said after the murder, Rabiul fled to India and forged a fake Indian passport with the name Arav Khan. He put down his father's name as Zakir Khan and mother's name Rehana Bibi Khan and Sajima Nasrin as his wife. He went to Dubai using that passport. Now he is a renowned gold trader in the UAE.

Several celebrities from the country, including ace cricketer Shakib Al Hasan and film director Debashis Bishwas, went to the UAE to inaugurate Arav Jewellers, owned by Rabiul, in Dubai’s New Gold Souk area on Wednesday.

The DB police said that they had informed Shakib Al Hasan and others, who were invited to Dubai, that Arav Khan is an absconding convict in a police murder case in Dhaka. Despite that, they went there which created a stir across the country.

The charge-sheet of the case states, accused Didar, Swapan and Rahamatullah tied up Mamun after failing to blackmail him. Later, they started beating him up indiscriminately together with Mizan, Atik and Sarowar. At one point of torture, Mamun fell unconscious.

At around 10:00 pm, accused Keya, Rabiul’s wife, Afrin and Meem left the house. Rabiul too left the house later in the night.

Deep in the night, Atik told Swapan that the police inspector’s body had become stiff. By early morning, they realised that Mamun had died.

The charge-sheet further states that following Mamun’s death, Rahamat Ullah told others that they needed to dispose of the body, otherwise they all would be in grave danger as it was him who invited Mamun and he was the last to call Mamun on the phone. Swapan then called Rabiul to inform him about the incident and asked him to come to the house in the morning.

Rabiul came in front of the house with two sacks and a white cloth at around 6.30am next morning. Didar took the sacks from him and went inside to put the body in it. In the meantime Rahamatullah, with Atik and Mizan, placed his car in front of the lift-door.

At around 7:00 am Atik, Swapan and Didar took Mamun’s body down in the lift and put the body in the backside of the car. Later, they got in the car and Rahamatullah drove the car to a road in Banani where Rabiul was waiting for them with a motorcycle along with Keya, Meherunnesa and Meem. Didar, Swapan and Atik were also in the car.

From there, Rahamutallah kept following Rabiul’s motorcycle. Rabiul returned after refuelling from a pump in Khilkhet and Rahamatullah went towards Gazipur with the car. At the time, Didar and Swapan talked several times with Rabiul over the phone. Swapan and Atik bought seven litres of petrol from a shop in Gazipur’s Shimultali. Rabiul sent money to accused Swapan’s mobile phone for petrol.

Later, at around 8:30 pm, they burned Mamun’s body in a bamboo bush on the way from Ulukhola to Gazipur with the petrol they purchased from Shimultali. After that, they all returned to Dhaka in the same car.

Speaking regarding the police murder on Facebook live on Wednesday, Rabiul, from his Facebook Id under the name Arav Khan, said, “I am not involved in this killing. Yes, it happened at my office, but I was not there at the time of the killing. I had only one fault, that is I am the owner of the office where the police inspector was killed. It happened following an argument at the birthday party.”

He further said, “The murder took place at my office. The court will judge me for this. I will accept that. However, I want to be punished just for the crime I committed.”

DB police sources say that two charge-sheets were submitted in this case. One of those was submitted to the juvenile court as two of the accused are minors. Another charge-sheet was submitted against the remaining eight accused. The case is under prosecution in the court at the moment. Deposition of witnesses in the case will start soon.

Of the accused, Rahamat Ullah, Mizan, Atik and Sarowar are on bail now. Two of the accused, including Rabiul, are absconding. Only Didar is in prison at the moment.

Rabiul came to the country in February last, after the court issued the arrest warrant against him. However, the police didn’t arrest him.

On 8 February, Rabiul went live on Facebook under the name Arav Khan and showed a three storey building. He said this was not his home in the village. This was his private place. He lives here. Later, he went to the local market on a BMW motorcycle to buy fish.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, a DB police official said, “We have seen Arav Khan’s Facebook live video after he came to the country in February. Efforts are on for the details of the passport he used to come to the country.”

However, he refused to reply when asked why Rabiul wasn’t arrested back in February.

*This report appeared on the print and online versions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ashish Basu