Contradicting RAB statement, police say Bogura's Salma killed by 'drug dealer tenant', not her son
Three new arrestees gave confessional statements to the Dupachaia Cognizance Court in Bogura today about killing Salma, Faridpur Police spokesperson Additional Superintendent Suman Ranjan Sarker told The Business Standard
In a twist to the gruesome killing of Umme Salma in Bogura, police today (15 November) said she was murdered by one of her tenants, contradicting an earlier statement by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) that accused her son of the murder.
Three new arrestees gave confessional statements to the Dupachaia Cognizance Court in Bogura today about killing Salma, Faridpur Police spokesperson Additional Superintendent Suman Ranjan Sarker told The Business Standard.
The new arrestees are Mabia Begum, 50, wife of Aiyub Ali of Uttar Sajapur village in Chamrul union; her cohorts Moslem Uddin, 26, of Taluch Paschimpara village in Gunahar union; and Rabi Das, 28, a rickshaw van driver from the same area.
They were arrested on Thursday night.
According to Faridpur Police, Mabia was a tenant at Salma's house. She used to conduct "immoral and drug related activities" in the house. When Salma and her husband Azizur Rahman realised the matter, it led to a dispute between them. They asked Mabia to leave the house as she was also not paying rent for two months.
"Mabia was angry at Salma. She and her cohorts - drug dealer Suman and Moslem - planned to kill her. First, Mabia entered the house alone, then called the other two over the phone. The two men used anaesthetic spray to make Salma unconscious.
They then tied her up, put her inside the freezer and left the house," one police official said citing the confessional statements on condition of anonymity.
Police sources said weapons and other materials used in the murders have also been recovered as per the information given by the new arrestees in their confessional statement.
Meanwhile, the new findings have thrown doubt over a RAB statement issued on 12 November, where the elite force claimed Salma's own son Saad Bin Azizur Rahman had killed her and has confessed to the killing.
"We have no such proof that Saad killed her mother. Even if he had confessed to the killing to RAB, he did not do so in front of the court under Section 164. He has been placed on remand," said Additional Superintendent Suman.