The man killed in Friday’s police raid in Rupnagar was a retired army major who went out of contact with family members in April, according to sources.
Soon after the raid, officials had said the dead was Murad alias Jahangir Alam alias Omar; fellow militants would call him “Major Shaheb”.
As the military commander of “Neo JMB”, he gave arms training to the Holey Artisan and Sholakia attackers, police added.
In the last two days, a number of police officials told this newspaper that the real name of the militant is Major (retd) Jahidul Islam.
Asked if the person killed in Rupnagar was Major (retd) Jahidul, an official of Inter Services Public Relation (ISPR) replied in the positive.
On condition of anonymity, he said Jahid went into voluntary retirement in July last year as a major, and his LPR period ended in July this year.
“The authorities have been looking into whether Major (retd) Jahidul Islam had any links to militancy,” he said.
Monirul Islam, chief of DMP’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit, at a briefing yesterday said that according to information they have, the dead was Jahidul Islam of Comilla.
Jahid severed all communications with family members and relatives in April and got engaged in so-called jihad, said the official.
On Friday, Monirul said that Murad alias Jahangir Alam alias Omar was a retired army man. However, the official could not say which post the man held in the military.
Contacted, Comilla Superintendent of Police Shah Abidur Rahman said Jahid was from West Chandpur of Panchthubi in Comilla Sadar. His father Mohammad Nurul Islam is a retired police inspector.
The SP added that based on detectives’ information, they have become sure that Jahidul was a retired army major.
However, he said, they will contact the army headquarters to verify it further, reports a correspondent from Comilla.
Jahid last visited his village home around eight months ago. He was little known to locals at West Chandpur as he rarely visited there and rarely socialised with people.
Jahid, 37, is the eldest among his two brothers and a sister.
Neighbours said only his parents lived in their West Chandpur home — on the first floor of their three-storey building.
During a visit to the house, none of the family members was found. A tenant said Nurul left for Dhaka on Friday for treatment.
According to his three acquaintances in Dhaka, Jahid got commissioned in 2000 after training under Bangladesh Military Academy’s 43 Long Course.
The army authorities sent him to Canada for a course (2013-2014) at the junior staff college of Canadian armed forces, said the acquaintances.
On return from Canada in 2014, Jahid looked interested in religious activities and started telling his friends that he would quit the army as “many things in the service contradict his ethics and religious beliefs”, they added.
Source: The Daily Star
