Arrested Mahmudul had beaten Nahid with a rod: RAB
One of the three persons arrested in connection with clashes that took place in the New Market area of the capital, directly participated in the killing of the courier service delivery man Nahid Hossain, Rapid Action Battalion has said.
RAB's legal and media wing director Commander Khandaker Al Moin revealed this at a press briefing on Thursday at the RAB media centre in Karwan Bazar, following the arrest of the three.
According to RAB, the three were arrested on Wednesday. They are Mahmudul Hasan alias Siam, Moazzem Hossain alias Sajib and Mehdi Hasan alias Bappi.
Siam was arrested from Shariatpur. Moazzem and Mehedi were arrested from Cox's Bazar.
Mahmudul was directly involved in the killing of Nahid who was assaulted during the clashes. Mahmudul is a third year student of Dhaka College. The other arrested two, Moazzem and Mehdi, are shop employees. The violence broke out over their altercation.
Commander Khandaker Al Moin said, closed circuit (CC) camera footage showed Mahmudur beating Nahid with a rod. The footage showed someone hacking Nahid. He has been identified as Imon. Efforts are on to arrest him.
RAB said that Mahmudul's village home is in Shariatpur. Moazzem and Mehdi disguised themselves and were hiding in Cox's Bazar. They were trying to get jobs at various hotels there.
Elaborating the details of the incident, Khandaker Al Moin said that two fast food shop employees had got involved in arguments and a fistfight over setting up iftari tables in the New Market area. They called up Moazzem and Mehdi to bring their gangsters to take revenge. Later the staff of the two shops got embroiled in clashes. Then certain vested quarters spread rumours to instigate the students and employees, leading to the violent clashes.
Khandaker Al Moin went on to say that journalists were also attacked during the incident. Ambulances were damaged. Several attackers have been identified. The identified persons include shop employees and outsiders. Efforts are on to arrest them.
The first round of clashes took place on 18 April night between the New Market shop owners and employees, and Dhaka College students. On the next day, 19 April, clashes between the Dhaka College students and the shop owners and employees as well as the hawkers, continued throughout the day.
Two persons died in the clashes. One of them was the courier service delivery man Nahid Hossain. The other was a shopkeeper at New Supermarket, Mohammad Morsalin. Around 50 persons were injured in the clashes.
Five cases were filed in this incident, with 1,724 named as accused. Two of the cases are murder cases, being investigated by the Detective Branch (DB) of police. New Market police station are investigating the other three cases.
So far five persons have been arrested and taken on remand by DB for the murder of Nahid. They are Md Abdul Quaiyum, Palash Miah, Mahmud Irfan, Md Faisal Islam and Md Junaid Bogdadi.
According to DB, all five of them are Dhaka College students. They were in the frontline during the clashes, wielding sharp weapons.
Dhaka College sources say all five were involved in politics of the ruling party's student front Chhatra League.