Robbers posing as driver, passengers kill customs official, 5 arrested: RAB
Five people have been arrested in connection with the killing of customs official Bullet Bairagi (35), according to Rapid Action Battalion, which said the victim was murdered by a robbery gang.
Briefing reporters at a press conference in Karwan Bazar, Dhaka, on Monday, RAB Director of Law and Media Wing MZM Ehtesham Chowdhury said the arrested individuals are active members of an organised criminal group.
They reportedly disguised themselves as drivers and passengers, operated in different areas of Cumilla, and targeted inter-district travellers by picking them up in CNG-run auto-rickshaws before attacking them with sharp weapons and robbing them.
The arrested are Imran Hossain Hridoy (37), Mohammad Sohag (30), Ismail Hossain Jony (25), Mohammad Sujon (32) and Rahatul Rahman Juel (27).
Authorities recovered an auto-rickshaw, a machete and a switchblade-type knife from their possession.
According to RAB, the group had been waiting at Jagurjuli Bishwa Road in Cumilla on the night of the incident. Bullet Bairagi, who was returning home to Cumilla after training in Chattogram, arrived there around 3am on Friday night.
He was picked up in an auto-rickshaw and later attacked inside the vehicle.
The assailants robbed his phone, cash and bag, and during a struggle, pushed him off the moving vehicle, leaving him fatally injured.
Family sources said that he had spoken with his family several times after reaching near his home, but he never made it back.
His body was later found on Saturday morning beside a hotel in the Kotbari area on the Dhaka–Chattogram highway in Cumilla.
A murder case was filed that night at Cumilla Sadar South Model Police Station by his mother, Nilima Bairagi, naming unidentified persons as accused.
Bullet Bairagi was the son of Susheel Bairagi of the Babupara area in Dumuria village under Tungipara upazila of Gopalganj.
He worked as an assistant revenue officer at Bibir Bazar land port in Cumilla.
From there, he went to Chattogram on 1 April for 44th foundational training. For work, he lived in a rented house in the Rajganj Panpatty area of Cumilla city.
He was the only child of his parents and is survived by his wife and a child.