The man shot dead in a ‘gunfight’, identified by police as ‘Shariful’ and described as an Ansarullah member by Dhaka police, is a man called Mukul Rana, picked up four months ago, his relatives have claimed.
Abul Kalam Azad, a resident of Baluigachha village in the Dhulihar Union of Satkhira Sadar Upazila, has alleged that his son was picked up from Jessore last February by men who identified themselves as Detective Branch police.
Shariful, as police call him, was reported to have died in a ‘gunfight’ on early Sunday morning after a countrywide crackdown was launched in the aftermath of a series of terrorist attacks.
The Detective Branch later disclosed that Shariful was a member of the banned militant outfit, Ansarullah Bangla Team, and had been directly involved in the killing of writer Abhijit Roy.
Police said, Shariful, an important member of the group’s ‘operations wing’ had several aliases – Sakib, Saleh, Afir, Hadi.
The photos of Abhijit’s six suspected assassins the police had released with a promise of awards for information about them, contained the name of Shariful (Mukul).
Mukul’s father had learnt of his son’s links with militancy from the photos released by police and identified the man slain in the ‘gunfight’ to be his son from pictures published in newspapers.
Azad told bdnews24.com at his house on Monday that his picture showed his son in the same shirt he had been wearing at the time of being picked up while coming to Satkhira from Jessore with his wife on Feb 23, four days after his marriage.
He was returning home from his in-law’s house in Satkhira, he said.
Mukul’s brother-in-law filed a complaint (general diary) with Jessore’s Kotwali Police Station, Azad said.
“They certainly held him that time. He was wearing the same clothes shown in the photo when he was picked up,” he said.
Kotwali Police Station OC Ilias Hossain said one Amir Hossain filed a GD alleging his sister’s husband was picked up by plainclothesmen.
On the other hand, DB says they had been searching for Shariful.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Deputy Commissioner Mashruqur Rahman said Sumon Patwary, a suspected militant arrested over the attack on publisher Ahmedur Rashid Tutul, gave the whereabouts of Shariful.
He said police conducted a drive in Badda, Rampura and Khilgaon areas following the lead on Saturday night.
“Three youths on a motorcycle opened fire at police at Meradia around 2am. One of them was injured when police fired back. The two others fled,” he said.
The injured person, later identified as Shariful, was declared dead by doctors.
Police said he knew about all the killings by Ansarullah, including that of Avijit Roy.
Azad said his son Mukul did not know his son was involved in militancy.
He said Mukul got admitted to Satkhira Government College after passing HSC in 2010.
He later took a job as an accountant at RAJUK in Dhaka’s Uttara, the father said.
Police, on the other hand, said Shariful was a student of a private university and worked for an NGO.
Source: Bd news24