Police are looking into his involvement in the attacks on four temples in Sundarganj in October last year
Former Jatiya Party lawmaker Col (retd) Abdul Quader Khan, prime suspect in the murder of Awami League lawmaker Md Manjurul Islam Liton, has confessed to planning and financing the killing.
Quader gave his deposition at the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Joynal Abedin in Sundarganj, Gaibandha on Saturday under section 164 of the Penal Code, police told the Dhaka Tribune.
He was taken to the court around 2:30pm amid tight security; he started to give his deposition around 5:30pm and was brought out of the court at 9:27pm.
Speaking at a press briefing in the night, Rangpur range Additional DIG Ahmed Bashir said that Quader had given all the details of his plan at the court.
“He confessed to being the mastermind and financier of this murder during his remand; he gave the same statement before the court,” Bashir said.
The four other suspects who have already confessed to the murder were Quader’s acquaintances, he told reporters.
Quader said that he killed Liton because of political rivalry and had been planning it for six months, Bashir said. “He tried killing Liton in October, but failed that time.”
Asked if more people were involved in the murder, Bashir said that police were working to find it out.
He was hopeful that the police would be able to complete the investigation in 15 days and submit the charge sheet before the court.
Quader also trained the three accused who took part in the murder – Mohammad Shahin, Mehedi Hasan and Anarul Islam Rana – on how to shoot a gun at his house in Sundarganj, an investigator told the Dhaka Tribune, requesting anonymity.
He used his shallow paddy machine to drown out the sound of gunshots, he added.
Quader’s sister-in-law Firoza Begum told the Dhaka Tribune that before the murder, whenever Quader was in the house, he was always surrounded by four people – the killers and his driver Abdul Hannan – but she did not see anything unusual happening in the house.
Shahin, Mehedi, Rana and Hannan have all been arrested and confessed to being involved in the plan.
Quader was arrested from his Bogra house on Tuesday and placed on a 10-day remand the following day.
Awami League Sundarganj lawmaker Liton was shot at his village home in Sundarganj’s Masterpara on December 31 last year. He died in a hospital after several hours.
Meanwhile, another case was filed against Quader on Saturday for possessing illegal arms. Police have also started probing into the allegations of his involvement in the attacks on four Sundarganj temples in October last year.
Four people including a nephew of Quader Khan’s were arrested in connection with the attacks. The suspects also left notes at the temples where they claimed to be members of militant group New JMB.
However, when they were arrested and interrogated by police, they said they had heard the name of New JMB in the news and so thought to use it in the notes.
source; dhaka tribune
