Information in deposition: Rabiul engaged in sex trade

Rabiul Islam alias Arav Khan, who is a charge-sheeted accused in police inspector Mamun Imran Khan murder case, was involved in the sex trade.

His wife Suraiya alias Keya would assist him. Rabiul along with his accomplices operated a sex trade at the Banani flat in the capital where Mamun was killed.

Such information has been found in the confessional statements given by seven accused to the court under section 164 in the Mamun murder case.

Rabiul's wife Suraiya is among the seven accused. He is absconding from the beginning. After securing bail recently, Suraiya has gone into hiding.

Mamun was killed on 8 July 2018.

On the following day his half-burnt body was recovered from a jungle in Gazipur. In connection with the incident, Mamun's elder brother Jahangir Alam Khan filed a murder case with Banani police station. The detective branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) investigated the case and submitted a charge sheet against 10 people, including Rabiul and Suraiya on 31 March 2019.

Of the ten accused, two were girls who are on bail. Of the eight, six are in jail. They are: Rahmatullah (35), Sawapan Sarker (39), Didar Pathan (21), Mizan Sheikh (21), Atik Hasan (21) and Sarwar Hossain (23).

The case is now under trial at the first additional metropolitan sessions judge court of Dhaka.

Police officials said Rabiul fled to India after Mamun was killed and got married there. He made an Indian passport with fake names and addresses.

Arav Khan was written in passport. With this passport, he moved to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Now, he is a big gold trader in Dubai.

'Arav Jewelers' owned by him was inaugurated in Dubai last week. A number of stars, including cricketer Shakib Al Hasan joined the event. He came to limelight following the event.

Suraiya in her confessional statement said she got acquainted with Rabiul through Facebook and later tied knot. After marriage, she came to know that Rabiul engaged in sex trade and would blackmail people after capturing their indecent pictures. At a stage, she also engaged in sex trade.

Suraiya in her deposition said a flat was rented in Banani for sex trade. Sawapan, Didar, Mizan and Sarwar were assigned in various activities, including surveillance. She would go the flat every one or two days apart to collect money of sex trade.

Police officer Mamun was invited to a birthday party in the flat on the evening of 8 July in 2018. Later he was killed. Confessing to the killing of Mamum, six other accused in their deposition said Rabiul engaged in sex trade.

In his deposition, Didar, in charge of the Banani flat, said he was introduced to Rabiul one and a half years before the incident.

He, Atik, Sawapan, Mizan and Sarwar would live in the flat. At the instruction of Rabiul, they would blackmail people, taking indecent pictures of them.

Later seven accused including Suraiya filed a petition with a court to withdraw the deposition. In the petition, they said they were compelled to give the confessional statement out of fear. They are not involved in the killing of Mamun.

*This story has been rewritten in English by Rabiul Islam.