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‘Pay up, or you’ll end up like Tipu’
People connected with the AL leader getting threatening calls
SHAHEEN MOLLAH and MOHAMMAD JAMIL KHAN
Just a week before Eid-ul-Fitr, a businessman, who has shops at the capital’s AGB colony kitchen market, received a call from an internet-generated number.
The caller, without disclosing his identity, claimed that he was calling from Dubai.
“You have to pay up if you want to continue your business. Or else, your fate will be like that of Jahidul Islam Tipu,” he said.
Tipu, former general secretary of Motijheel Awami League (AL), was shot dead by unidentified assailants on March 24. To add to that tragedy, Samia Afran Jamal Prity (22), a rickshaw passenger, got hit by a stray bullet and died.
After the call, the businessman was terrified and contemplated shutting down his shop.
The shops have been closed ever since Eid.
“My life is more important than money,” he said on June 1, seeking anonymity out of fear.
“Tipu had a bodyguard and yet got killed. We don’t have that kind of support, so we have to think about our life first,” he said.
He has filed a GD with Motijheel Police Station.
This is not a one-off incident. Businesspeople in Motijheel area, especially those who were well-connected with Tipu, are getting such calls since the murder, according to local ruling party leaders and traders.
At least seven GDs have been filed by traders of Motijheel for such threats, they said.
They claimed that those who are making the threats are the planners of Tipu’s murder.
Abdul Ahad, deputy commissioner of Motijheel police, told this newspaper on June 4 that several GDs were filed in this connection, and they have forwarded the complaints to police’s Detective Branch (DB), as it is investigating Tipu’s murder.
Asked about the traders’ security, Ahad said police patrolling has been increased.
Of the complaints, this newspaper has managed to collect three. One of the complaints was filed by Tipu’s wife Farhana Islam Doly, also a ward councillor, on April 1.
According to the complaint, around 6:17pm on April 1, Doly received a phone call from the number 72972823.
“Are you Doly?” the caller asked. “Yes,” she replied and asked for the caller’s identity.
Without answering, the caller asked, “Where do you stay?”
She asked for the caller’s identity again, and he replied, “I’m Tomal. I’m calling from Dubai. You shouldn’t have mentioned my name to police,” the complaint read.
Earlier on March 25 and 30, Doly got calls from the same number, asking for her address.
“Now, I feel really unsafe,” Doly mentioned in the GD.
Talking to these correspondents at her residence on May 30, Doly said law enforcers have arrested some people over the murder, but investigation remains stalled.
“Now, planners of Tipu’s murder are threatening me to back away from the case. But I won’t do that,” she said.
Asked about all this, Rifat Rahman Shamim, deputy commissioner of DB’s Motijheel division, told The Daily Star that investigation is underway.
The investigators earlier claimed that Tipu was murdered by his political and underworld rivals to establish supremacy at Motijheel. They mentioned Sumon Shikder Musa, who is believed to have connections with underworld gangs, as the murder’s mastermind.
The killing was planned three to four months back, with a contract of Tk 15 lakh.
Musa received the money and went to Dubai on March 12. From there, he coordinated and hired hitmen, claimed law enforcers.
Police said Musa has been arrested in Oman. A police team brought him to Dhaka from Oman on June 9. Six people have so far been arrested in the case.
Detectives said Musa’s arrest will be a vital breakthrough in investigating the extortion calls and the murder.
A trader filed a complaint against Musa with Motijheel Police Station on April 10.
As per the complaint, a call came from +882391, and the caller identified himself as Musa.
The caller then asked for money. When the businessman refused, he made threats.
About the arrest, Doly said, “Law enforcers arrested Musa. But, I think there is someone behind him.”
Detectives said the arrest of Musa, the prime suspect, will be a vital breakthrough in investigating the extortion calls and the murder.