Convicted JMB member arrested 6 years after murder
Abdur Rahman was arrested from Genda area of Savar in Dhaka on Monday night
Anti-Terrorism Unit of Police have arrested a convicted member of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) for murder of Rahmat Ali, caretaker of a shrine in Rangpur, nearly six years ago.
The arrested Chandu Mia, alias Abdur Rahman, and six other JMB men were awarded death sentences for the murder on 10 November, 2015.
Abdur Rahman was arrested from Genda area of Savar in Dhaka on Monday night; however, the information was disclosed in a briefing on Tuesday.
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Abdur Rahman was part of JMB assailant group and hacked the caretaker to death, said ATU police superintendent Aslam Khan.
He said six other JMB assailants were arrested earlier, but Abdur Rahman, 25, was on run, until finally getting arrested on Monday.
Abdur Rahman was teenager during the incident and working as Muazzin at a local mosque. The group killed Rahman Ali considering him a divergent from Islam, he said.
Aslam Khan said that Abdur Rahman is from Pirgacha of Rangpur and he fled the area after the murder.
The convicted JMB member was in hideout for years and started leading his life as rickshaw-puller in Dhaka, Cumilla and other districts.
ATU officials said that Abdur Rahman has been maintaining communication with JMB top officials, but he was not active since the murder.
The arrested youth was member of JMB's Isaba Group, which was mainly tasked for carrying out targeted murders.
Abdur Rahman primarily admitted for carrying out attack on the shrine caretaker, but declined to be part of other similar operation, said SP Aslam.
The police officer said that they have collected some names of JMB members who are now operating in secrets and ATU would continue raids against them.
The caretaker of a shrine, Rahmat Ali, 55, of Bade Moskur village, was hacked to death in Choita intersection area of Kaunia upazila in Rangpur on November 10, 2015.
Police filed charge sheet of the case against 14 JMB men over the incident in July, 2016.
The court, later, dropped two accused - Nazrul Islam alias Bike Hasan and Saddam Hossain - from the charge sheet as they were killed in a reported gunfight with police.
A Rangpur court on 18 March 2018, sentenced seven members of JMB to death for killing Rahmat Ali and the rest were cleared from the case.
ATU officials, however, said that they JMB members who were cleared from the case had participated in murder of Japanese named Hoshi Kunio at Kaunia upazila in October, 2015.
