Avijit, Niladri killings: Key suspect killed in ‘crossfire’

A prime suspect in the killings of bloggers including Avijit Roy and Niladri Chattapadhyay Niloy was killed in a reported incident of crossfire at Khilgaon in the capital early Sunday, claimed the Detective Branch of police.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police officials claimed that the deceased, Shariful alias Sakib alias Sharif alias Saleh alias Arif alias Hadi-1, 25, was a top organiser of banned Islamist outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team and also the prime suspect in the killings of bloggers especially Avijit in February 2015 and Niladri in August 2015 in Dhaka.
The killing of Shariful took place a day after Golam Faizullah Fahim, 18, claimed to be a member of banned Hizb-ut Tahrir, was killed in a ‘gunfight’ in Madaripur on Saturday after being remanded in police custody for interrogation about machete attack on Nazim Uddin College teacher Ripon Chakrawarty on June 15.
Avijit’s father Ajoy Roy told New Age that the ‘crossfire’ was definitely a ‘condemnable incident’ and it was done ‘intentionally’. ‘If he [Shariful] was arrested alive, more information could be revealed,’ he said, adding, ‘But, it’s true one Shariful was involved in the attack.’
Asha Mone, the widow of Niladri and witness to the killing of her husband inside their rented house at Goran, said that she could not recognise the youth who got killed in the gunfight.
With the killing of the suspect in Dhaka, seven people, mostly suspected members of banned Jamaat-ul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, were killed in reported incidents of ‘gunfight’ since June 5, when the government launched a crackdown against Islamists following the killing of superintendent of police Babul Akhter’s wife Mahmuda Khanam Mitu in Chittagong.
About the latest killing, the metropolitan police deputy commissioner (media and public relations) Masudur Rahman said that Shariful was a ‘militant’ and was killed in a ‘gunfight’ between detectives and a group of ‘militants’.
A metropolitan police release said that detective officials conducted a drive on information that there was a hideout of Ansarullah Bangla Team at Rampura-Banasree’s J-Block.
During the drive, the detectives signalled three suspects on a motorbike on Meradia-Demra road at about 2:30am.
Being intercepted, the three opened fire at the cops forcing police to retaliate.
One of the three sustained bullet injuries while the rest two escaped the scene, the release claimed.
Police claimed that they seized the motorbike and a pistol with two bullets.
The Khilgaon police station sub-inspector Al Mamun, who prepared the inquest, said that he found the bullet injured man on the road at about 3:30am and moved him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where the duty doctor declared him dead at about 4:00am.
The inquest report prepared in the afternoon, however, did not name the deceased.
Detective officials in the morning claimed that they identified the man by his photograph as the prime suspect, Shariful.
Police claimed in May they had identified six members of Ansarullah Bangla Team involved in the murders of secular bloggers, writers and publishers in recent times.
Police identified the suspects as Shariful, a top organiser of the outfit hailing from Greater Khulna; Selim alias Iqbal alias Ilias alias Mamun alias Hadi-2 from North Bengal; Sifat alias Samir alias Imran, one of the commanders of the military wing of the outfit; Abdus Samad alias Sujan alias Raju alias Salman alias Saad from Comilla; Shihab alias Sumon alias Syful from Chittagong; and Sajjad alias Sajib alias Siam alias Shams from a district adjacent to Dhaka.
The metropolitan police had also announced a bounty of Tk 5 lakh each for information leading to the arrest of Shariful and Selim, and Tk 2 lakh each for the rest four.
Of the six, police on June 15 disclosed the arrest of Shihab. He was remanded in police custody on the same day for five days for interrogation.
Police claimed that Sharif used to train up the outfit activists on firearms and information technology. Apart from this, he played a key role in recruiting members.
Police also found evidence of his leadership in murder attempt of publisher Ahmed Rashid Tutul at Lalmatia in November 2015 and killing of Riyad Morshed Babu, a student of Shanta Mariam University, .
According to police, he was one of the masterminds behind the killing of Jagriti Prokashoni owner Faisal Arefin Dipan, Blogger Oyashiqur Rahman Babu, secular activist Nazim Uddin Samad and LGBT rights activist Xulhaz Mannan and his friend Mahbub Tonoy.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net