A woman, who allegedly abetted Jubo League leader Tarek in murdering his party man Milky by giving him Milky’s whereabouts, was arrested by Rab in the capital’s Dhanmondi area yesterday morning.
The arrestee, Fahima Islam Lopa, 25, wife of Milky’s close aide and Jubo League leader Maruf Reza Sagar, told Tarek the whereabouts of Milky, and thus helped him commit the murder, said Rab officials at a press briefing in the capital.
Tarek initially wanted to take Sagar’s help to plan Milky’s murder. Failing to get Sagar’s support, he used Lopa, with whom he had a relationship beyond Sagar’s knowledge, Kismat Hayat, commanding officer of Rab-1, told journalists in the afternoon.
It was the latest claim by the elite force that had previously given confusing statements regarding Milky’s murder. Rab yesterday produced Lopa at the press briefing at the Rab-1 headquarters to give a statement.
Speaking to journalists, Lopa said, “Sagar used to spend a lot of time with Riaz uncle [Riazul Haque Khan Milky] and would hardly have time for me. So, I became increasingly annoyed with Riaz uncle.”
Lopa said when Jahid Siddique Tarek, who had already been in conflict with Milky over political and financial matters, came to know about her dislike for the latter, he shared with her his plan to murder Milky.
Rab said Lopa had told them that the duo had been planning the murder for the last one month. “They first conspired to kill Milky during the shutdowns following Ghulam Azam’s verdict [on July 15]. Somehow that did not work out,” Kismat said.
The chance came in the early hours of July 30, when Milky went out with Sagar for shopping at Gulshan. “I called Sagar twice to know his [Milky] whereabouts and passed on the information to Tarek,” Lopa said.
She claimed Tarek had plans to kill Khaled Mahmud Bhuiyan, organising secretary of Dhaka city unit (south) Jubo League, and Arifur Rahman Sohel, convener of Chhatra League’s Motijheel unit.
“He [Tarek] boasted of his political and armed forces connections,” said Lopa when prompted by Rab officials.
HM Jahid Siddique Tarek, 35, joint secretary of Dhaka City (south) unit Jubo League allegedly killed Milky, organising secretary of the Dhaka city (south) unit Jubo League, at 1:07am Tuesday in front of Shopper’s World, a shopping mall in Gulshan.
Sagar, who was with Milky during the incident, had identified the killer, claimed Kismat. “Though Sagar was our first suspect, his connection with the murder was not found in the primary interrogation,” said the Rab official.
“He knew nothing about his wife’s connection to the murder.” Sagar wasn’t at home when Rab arrested his wife from their Dhanmondi house around 11:00 am, Kismat told The Daily Star.
Eight people, including Lopa, have been arrested in connection with Milky’s murder.
Tarek, the prime suspect in the case, was killed in a “shootout” between his cohorts and Rab members on Wednesday night, a day before the case was transferred to Rab-1.
The elite force had applied to home ministry on Wednesday for transferring the case to it from the police.
Meanwhile, Jubo League Chairman Omar Faroque Chowdhury claimed that Milky’s murder was a stray incident and had nothing to do with politics.
Such incident should not be linked with politics and it needs to be investigated, Faroque said at a press briefing at his Dhanmondi office, reports UNB.
He said Jubo League has no record of any conflicts between Milky and Tarek.
Refuting Rab’s earlier claim that Tarek was a “serial killer”, he said there was no information about 27 murder cases against Tarek.
Source: The Daily Star