Raihan’s death: Prime accused SI Akbar arrested
Earlier, intelligence sources said Akbar had fled to the Indian state of Meghalaya through the Companiganj border in Sylhet
A month after Raihan Ahmed's death, the police on Monday arrested expelled sub-inspector (SI) of police Akbar Hossain Bhuiyan, the main accused in the killing of Raihan at the Bandarbazar police outpost in Sylhet.
Confirming the matter, Sylhet Superintendent of Police Mohammad Farid Uddin said Akbar had been arrested from the Dora border of Laxmiprasad union in Kanaighat upazila of Sylhet.
"We stepped up surveillance at the Kanaighat border since Sunday based on information that Akbar might have fled to India. We arrested him on Monday morning in collaboration with the locals," he said at a press conference in the evening.
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Earlier, intelligence sources said Akbar had fled to the Indian state of Meghalaya through the Companiganj border in Sylhet.
Some videos of Akbar's detention had gone viral on Facebook, which showed some youths from the Khasia community tying Akbar's hands and feet and bringing him to a hilly creek.
Although the young men spoke in Bengali, their voices were like those of non-Bengalis. After watching the video, some locals of Kanaighat said based on the young men's speech and the area they were in, it seemed they might belong to the Khasia tribe of India.
However, at the press conference in the evening, the Sylhet superintendent of police said the police always work with the cooperation of the local people. In this case, too, Akbar had been arrested with the help of the locals. The police arrested him from the Bangladesh border.
The police of Bandarbazar outpost detained Raihan from the city's Kastoghar at midnight on October 10. He died at Osmani hospital on the morning of October 11. According to Raihan's family, he died as a result of torture overnight.
On the night of October 11, Raihan's wife Tahmina Akhter filed a case under the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act.
Meanwhile, a three-member investigation committee of the Sylhet Metropolitan Police under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner (North) Mohammad Azbahar Ali Sheikh conducted an investigation and initially confirmed the death in police custody at the outpost.
In this connection, on October 12, four people, including SI Akbar, also the in-charge of the outpost, were suspended and three others were withdrawn from the outpost. Since then, main accused SI Akbar had been fugitive. Another SI of the outpost, Hasan, was also suspended on October 21 on charges of abetting SI Akbar and concealing information.
Meanwhile, the case was handed over to the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) on October 13. Kotwali police SI Abdul Baten, the investigating officer in the case, had requested for a re-autopsy of the dead body.
On October 15, the PBI completed the exhumation of Raihan's body from the Akhalia Nawabi Mosque cemetery in Sylhet. According to the autopsy report, Raihan was killed by a blunt weapon.
The PBI has arrested three people in the incident. Among them, constables Titu Chandra Das and Harun Ur Rashid were remanded for eight days in two phases and Assistant SI Ashek Elahi for five days.
However, none of them agreed to give a confessional statement. Besides, a man named Saidur Sheikh, who was accused of kidnapping Raihan, was arrested as a suspect and was sent to jail.
