Hadi shooting: What was found from eye-witness accounts and CC camera footage
There were only a few vehicles on the on the weekly holiday Friday after the Jummah prayer. Suddenly the sound of gunfire startled the people nearby. Someone cried out, “Save me! Save me!”. He was shouting from a battery-operated rickshaw. When the rickshaw stopped, it was seen that blood was flowing onto the road from the gun wounds on his head and ears.
The victim, Sharif Osman Hadi, convener of Inqilab Moncho, was shot today, Friday, at 2:24 pm on Box Culvert Road in Purana Paltan of the capital. He was shot in the head. Hadi was taken in a critical condition to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. After initial treatment there, he was shifted to Evercare Hospital.
A former student of Dhaka University, Osman Hadi came into the spotlight last year for various activities following the fall of the Awami League government in the mass uprising. He had announced that he would contest the Dhaka-8 seat as an independent candidate and had been campaigning.
When Hadi was shot in the afternoon while sitting in a moving battery-powered rickshaw, a man named Sajjad Khan was standing on the pavement beside the road. The way Osman Hadi was shot unfolded right in front of him, and he described the incident to Prothom Alo.
Sajjad Khan said he works in a building next to the scene. After finishing Friday prayers at the Baitus Salah Jame Mosque on Box Culvert Road in Purana Paltan, he came out and was standing on the pavement in front of a multi-storey building called Doctor Tower opposite to the mosque. Many people were also standing on the sidewalk at that time.
According to Sajjad Khan, Osman Hadi was travelling towards Bijoynagar in a battery-powered rickshaw coming from the Fakirapool side. Another person was seated next to him in the rickshaw. Two men on a motorcycle were following the auto-rickshaw. The pillion rider on the motorcycle was wearing a black shawl that covered both his hands. When their motorcycle came level with the auto-rickshaw, the pillion rider pulled out a firearm and, from very close range, shot at Hadi, who was in the moving rickshaw. Within moments of firing the shot, they sped off toward Bijoynagar.
Describing how people on the street were bewildered by the sound of gunfire, Sajjad Khan said that panic spread among everyone. Hadi then screamed, “Save me, save me!” When the rickshaw stopped at that point, people gathered around. Blood was dripping onto the road from Hadi’s head and ears. The person sitting next to him in the rickshaw held him upright. He was then taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
After the incident, members of the police, RAB, the Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) arrived at the scene. The army joined them as well. Members of the law enforcement agencies collected CCTV footage from the cameras installed at Doctor (DR) Tower and began working to identify the attackers.
The footage shows two riders on a motorcycle following a battery-powered rickshaw from behind. There were two passengers in the rickshaw, and two people on the motorcycle. Both motorcyclists were wearing helmets. The rider was wearing jeans, and the pillion passenger had a shawl wrapped around him. At one point, when the motorcycle came close to the auto-rickshaw, the pillion rider pulled out a firearm and opened fire.
In the afternoon, when visiting the scene on Box Culvert Road, a crowd of journalists and curious onlookers was seen.
There were specks and stains of blood on the road at the scene. The CID’s crime scene unit cordoned off the area with yellow tape. Law enforcement officials, along with members of intelligence agencies, were working there. The army was positioned nearby as well.
Inspector Abdur Rashid of the CID crime scene unit told the journalists present that they had collected blood evidence from three spots at the scene. The area was cordoned off with yellow tape to ensure that the evidence there would not be contaminated.
Hossain Mohammad Farabi, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police for the Motijheel division, told Prothom Alo at the scene that, along with the police, several agencies were working to identify the attackers by analysing CCTV footage from Doctor Tower and other nearby buildings. Nothing is yet known about who shot Osman Hadi or why.