Section 144 withdrawn in hills
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The three are Md Shakil, 27; Rafiqul Alam, 55, AL leader and former mayor of Khagrachhari municipality; and his brother Didarul Alam, 50, organising secretary of district unit AL and ex-chairman of Sadar Upazila Parishad.
None was arrested yet, the OC said.
Locals said Rafiqul and Didarul went into hiding after the AL government was toppled on August 5.
Mamun was beaten to death in Shalban area of Khagrachhari Sadar upazila on September 18.
Violence erupted on Thursday afternoon over the killing. Around 100 shops and other business establishments in the Larma Square market were torched.
On Friday, four indigenous people were killed and at least 72 others injured as violence flared up in Rangamati town and Khagrachhari’s Dighinala and Sadar upazilas. Section 144 was imposed to curb violence there by the local administrations.
MAMUN’S MURDER
In the case statement, Mamun’s wife Mukta said her husband, a furniture trader, went out of home for his shop around 6:00pm on September 17. He was supposed to spend the night there as some guests were at home.
She added that the next morning she came to know that Shakil, along with some unknown others, on the instructions of AL leaders Rafiqul and Didarul picked up her husband from his shop around midnight.
“We searched for him in different places. At one stage, we learnt that Mamun was killed and a video clip of his murder was on Facebook,” she said, adding they later found his body at Khagrachhari Sadar Hospital.
She also mentioned that shop employee Shahin was also picked up around 5:00am and beaten up mercilessly.
Talking to The Daily Star, Mukta said the two AL leaders were accused as they used to torture her husband, a Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal activist, and threatened him with life on several occasions.
“My husband could not come to our home and used to live in Chattogram and elsewhere. So, I suspect that Shakil and the two brothers in collusion with some indigenous and Bangalee people killed my husband.”
It is the responsibility of the police to find the killers and ensure justice, Mukta said.
The case was filed on September 19 night, but the information was revealed late Saturday night after three advisers visited the region.
Ahsan Habib Palash, Chattogram range DIG, told this newspaper, “Police didn’t even get any chance to start investigating the Khagrachhari case. No one involved in the murder will be spared.”
ANOTHER CASE
On Friday, the violence from Khagrachhari spread to Rangamati. During clashes between groups of indigenous people and Bangalees, 19-year-old Anik Chakma was beaten to death. Doctors declared him dead after he was taken to Rangamati Sadar Hospital.
On Saturday, Anik’s father Adar Sen Chakma filed a case with Kotwali Police Station against unidentified individuals.
Shah Md Imran, additional superintendent of Rangamati police, told The Daily Star, “Anik’s father filed a case. We are trying to identify the suspects and arrest them.”
[Our correspondents from Chattogram and Rangamati contributed to this report.]