Mitu murder: Babul Akter evades answering questions

A month before Mahmuda Khanam was killed, there had been another plot to murder her, revealed several police officials of Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI).

Her husband former police superintendent Babul Akter was in China for training at the time, the officials said.

PBI has taken Babul Akter into five-day remand on 12 May on charges of his wife’s murder. He was produced before a Chattogram court on Monday as the remand was over.

PBI officials said, Babul remained unresponsive during the first three days of interrogations and spoke only a little after that.

They also said, Babul was worried about his children’s future and wept a few times.

He, however, avoided all the questions related to the motive of killing his wife just saying, “You already know everything. What I am supposed to say?”

Babul was shown arrested on 12 May in a murder case filed by Mitu’s father. PBI took him to Chattogram from Dhaka to interrogate two days earlier of that. The investigation officer, Santosh Kumar Chakma of Chattogram PBI told Prothom Alo that it would be known on Monday whether Babul would record confessional statement before the court.

Mahmuda Khanam Mitu was killed on 5 June 2016 in Chittagong. Miscreants hacked and shot her to death while she was walking her son to school bus in the morning near the GEC intersection in Chattogram city. At that time her husband Babul Akter was in Dhaka. He was promoted to the post of police superintendent a few days before the murder.

Earlier, Babul Akter was the additional deputy commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Detective Police. After the murder, he filed a case against the unidentified persons at the Panchlaish police station in Chattogram. The statement said militants could kill his wife. The incident took a different turn when he was interrogated for about 15 hours at the Dhaka intelligence office on 24 June 2016. He then resigned from the police force on 6 September of that year.

Although Mitu’s father did not make any accusation against Babul then, he started pointing his finger at Babul for his daughter’s murder from 2017 and demanded his arrest.

Chattogram DB police were investigating the case filed by Babul Akter at the time. They arrested six suspected miscreants. Among them, two accused, Anwar and Wasim made confessional statements before the court. They said they committed the murder at the behest of Kamrul Sikdar alias Musa. Police said, Wasim And Anwar were contract killers.

Already in police custody, Wasim and Anwar have been shown arrested in the case filed by Mitu’s father.

Musa’s two accomplices Nurunnabi and Nurul Islam were killed in a 'gunfight' with police in 2016 on suspicion of involvement in Mitu’s murder. And Musa has been missing since the incident. Musa's wife Panna Akhter claimed that he was picked up by the police. She said that she knew the police officer who arrested Musa and he was still in the force. The police announced a bounty of Tk 500,000 to catch Musa again.

Panna Akhter thinks that if Babul can be arrested after so many years of Mitu’s murder, then the police will be able to find Musa as well.

"If Musa is guilty, let him be taken to court. I want to see him alive," she said.

In June last year, the court directed the PBI to investigate the case. PBI officials interrogated accused Wasim at the jail gate last December. According to the PBI, Musa's relative Kazi Al Mamun paid Tk 300,000 to Wasim and Anwar who were involved in MItu’s murder. When PBI questioned Mamun about the transaction, he said that he was sent the money in a few phases through bKash by a business partner of Babul Akter named Saiful Haque.

Saiful and Mamun both testified as witnesses (in the previous case) in the Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate's Court on 11 May. Saiful said, Babul asked him to give Tk 300,000 to Mamun. He gave money through bKash and later found out that this money was given to MItu’s killers. Mamun also confessed this to the court.

PBI filed a 575-page final report in the Babul case on 12 May. Investigating officer of the case PBI Chattogram inspector Santosh Kumar Chakma said Kazi Al Mamun is the nephew of Musa's wife. The plaintiff Babul Akter became the accused following the testimony of two witnesses and the investigation.

An hour after giving the final report, Mitu's father Mosharraf Hossain filed a murder case against eight people with Panchlaish police station, making Babul the prime accused. The second accused was Musa. According to the statement, Babul killed his daughter as he had an extra-marital affair with a woman working in an NGO. Musa led the murder. The PBI later produced Babul in court on the same day (12 May), showing him arrested in the case.

However, his lawyer Arifur Rahman claimed in court that Babul was not involved in the murder. Yesterday, he said, it is strange to drag Babul into the case after five years. They will go to the high court for justice, he added.

Mahmuda Khanam Mitu's father Mosharraf Hossain said he would apply to the court for the custody of his grandchildren. He said they found out that Babul's current wife had moved to Cumilla with their grandchildren. They want guardianship of their grandchildren immediately.

On the other hand, Babul Akter's family is also trying to retain custody of the children. Babul Akter's brother, Hasibur Rahman, said, Babul and Mitu's two children are in their custody. He did not want to say where they were.

PBI officials say investigators will talk to Babul Akhtar's son after his remand as the boy was an eyewitness of the murder.