Raihan posts pistol-firing video hours after Jubo Dal activist shot dead in Raozan
Around five and a half hours after a Jubo Dal activist was shot to death in broad daylight in Raozan, Chattogram, Md Raihan posted a video of himself firing a pistol on his Facebook Story. The video was posted at around 3:00 am early Friday.
Raihan is known as an associate of Sazzad Ali alias Boro Sazzad, who is currently absconding abroad.
The video shows Raihan holding a 9mm pistol and firing three shots in succession. However, it could not immediately be confirmed when or where the video was recorded.
Md Russell, additional superintendent of police (media) for Chattogram district, told Prothom Alo, “We are investigating to determine whether it is an old video or one recorded recently.”
According to police and local sources, 35-year-old Raihan studied up to Class-III. He once worked as a CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver. Police allege that he also sold illicit liquor while operating under an assumed identity.
According to the police, Raihan became acquainted with Sazzad Hossain, also known as Chhoto Sazzad, while they were both in prison in connection with an attempted murder case. After securing bail following 5 August 2024, he allegedly became involved in various criminal activities. He has also been accused of firing his weapon indiscriminately.
Police claim that although (Chhoto) Sazzad was recently sent to jail, Raihan is now overseeing his weapons cache.
Police arrested another member of Sazzad Ali’s group, Mobarak Hossain Emon, alias David Emon, in a raid in Jashore on the night of 29 July. On the same day, police conducted an operation in Noakhali to arrest Raihan, but he managed to evade them, according to police.
At around 9:30 pm on Thursday, Jubo Dal activist Muhammad Karim, 35, was shot to death in the Keranihat area of Urkirchar union in Raozan upazila.
According to witnesses, a group of men on four or five motorcycles surrounded Karim after he entered the market. One of them attacked him on the neck and head with a kirich, a traditional curved blade. After Karim fell to the ground, bleeding heavily, several of the attackers shot him. They then fled the scene on motorcycles.
Police said Karim had at least 10 cases filed against him over allegations including theft, drug offences, robbery, mugging and abduction. He had also been imprisoned several times.