DMP confirms identity of 7 dead in Kalyanpur operation

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Wednesday night confirmed the identity of seven of the nine suspected Islamist extremists killed in what police named ‘Operation Storm-26’ at a Kalyanpur house in Dhaka early Tuesday.
The metropolitan police published the identity on its official Facebook page and online portal and said that the identity was confirmed by examining the fingerprints of the suspects with the fingerprints of their National Identity Cards preserved with the Bangladesh Election Commission.
‘The identity of two could not be established yet,’ read the Facebook posting.
One of the deceased, Shehjad Rouf alias Arka, 24, of Bashundhara Residential Area in the capital, was a Bangladeshi-origin US citizen, according to the police.
Six of the deceased suspects were aged between 20 and 24 while another was 33 years old, according to the ages on their national identity cards.
Three of the dead were from Dhaka’s three posh areas and one each from Noakhali, Satkhira, Dinajpur and Patuakhali.
Besides Sejad, the six others were Taj-ul-Huque Rashik, 24, of Dhanmondi in Dhaka, Akifuzzaman Khan, 23, of Gulshan in Dhaka, Md Motiar Rahman, 24, of Omarpur village under Tala upazila in Satkhira, Abu Hakim Naim, 33, Kuakata village under Kalapara in Patruakhali, Md Zobair Hossain, 20, of Paschim Maijdi under Sudharam in Noakhali, and Abdullah, 23, of Bhallabpur village under Nawabganj in Dinajpur.
All the nine bodies are now at Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue.
Shehjad’s father Towhid Rouf told New Age that Shehjad remained missing since February but he was ‘50 per cent sure that one of the bodies was his son’s.’ he said, ‘ I requested the law enforcers for a DNA test.’
He said that his son was a Bangladeshi-origin US citizen and had US passport.
Noakhali superintendent of police Elias Sharif said that Zobair’s father Abdul Quayum came to his office and claimed that one of the photos published on the Facebook posting resembled that of his son.
He said that Zobair was a second year honours student of Noakhali Government College and remained missing since May 25.
Metropolitan police media wing deputy commissioner Md Masudur Rahman said that they would ask the parents to see the bodies for examining the deceased’s physical appearance and would appeal to the court seeking permission for their DNA tests to ascertain their identities.
Masudur said that process was underway to lodge a case with Mirpur model police station in connection with the Kalyanpur incident.
Mirpur police station inspector (investigation), however, at 10:30pm said that it was not possible for them to inform anything in this connection.
Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Nurunnaher Yeasmin on Wednesday remanded the Kalyanpur house owner, Momataj Parveen, in police custody for two days for interrogation as she did not provide the police with the information about her tenants including the nine suspects.
Nurunnahar was arrested on suspicion and police officials said they would interrogate her to know whether she had any relation with the suspects.
The Kalyanpur house, Taj Manjil, was found totally empty and the main gate was locked and a team of police were guarding the gate on Wednesday.
Mirpur police station assistant sub-inspector Md Jahidul Islam, who was on duty there, said that the building was declared a ‘crime scene’ and they would allow none to enter it until further order from their high ups.
He said that two teams of the Criminal Investigation Department visited the crime scene on the fourth floor apartment where the nine suspects were killed.
Dhaka Medical College forensic department assistant professor Sohel Mahmud, who led a team of three forensic experts to conduct post mortem examination of the bodies, told reporters that most of the suspects were killed being hit by bullets on their back.
He said that they took out seven bullets from four bodies and the remaining bodies had bullet wounds but there was no bullet inside the bodies.
He said that they had also collected viscera and samples of hair and blood for further examinations.
Another suspect, Rakibul Hasan Regan, 20, of Bogra, who was arrested injured by bullet, was undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital in police custody.
Bogra police station officials said that they detained Rakibul’s mother, Nandigram Upazila Health Complex nursing officer Rokeya Akhter, on Tuesday for interrogation after Rakibul’s arrest.
They said that Rokeya lodged a general diary with Bogra police station on July 15, 2015 stating that Rakibul went missing after he went to attend medical admission coaching at Bogra unit of Retina Coaching Centre on July 14, 2015.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net