Man Killed in Feb 19 ‘Gunfight’: A trucker, not a drug dealer

A man, who was killed in an alleged gunfight with Rab-10 in Dhaka's Keraniganj on Friday, was the driver of a truck that ran over and killed a Rab member in Mymensingh's Bhaluka on February 14.

Four days after the so-called gunfight, family members of the deceased identified the body at the Dhaka Medical College morgue around 1:00am on Tuesday.

The deceased was Shafiq Sheikh, 35, son of Abed Sheikh of a Jamalpur village, his brother-in-law Mohammad Manik told The Daily Star yesterday.

He said Shafiq worked as a technician at the Tongi truck stand and was behind the wheels of the truck that killed the Rab man in Bhaluka.

Manik claimed that Shafiq had been missing since the accident on February 14.

"Shafiq was not a drug peddler. He had been traceless since the accident."

After police informed them about his death and that the body was kept at the DMC morgue, Shafiq's wife and other family members went there for identification, Manik added.

On February 19, Bachchu Mia, inspector of a police outpost at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said members of Rab-10 took a man with multiple gunshot wounds to the hospital and that he died soon afterwards.

DMC sources said the man was taken there around 5:20am that day.

Throughout the rest of the day, Rab officials did not disclose how the man died or who he was.

In the evening, they finally spoke and claimed that the deceased was a drug dealer, who was killed in a gunfight with Rab-10 earlier in the day in Keraniganj's Swapnadhara area.

The officials did not give any further details of the deceased.

Later, Lt Col Ashique, director (legal and media wing) of Rab, said, "A team of Rab-10 raided Swapnadhara area acting on information that a group of drug peddlers would gather there.

"During the raid, the criminals started shooting at the Rab men, forcing the law enforcers to retaliate by firing back. At one point of the gunfight, the gang members left. The Rab men then found a critically wounded man on the spot."

He claimed that two Rab members were also injured and took primary treatment. He, however, did not mention the nature of the injuries and the names of the "injured".

Rab also claimed to have recovered a gun, three bullets and 32 yaba pills from the spot.

Lt Col Ashique said officials were trying to identify the man through his finger prints.

Later, a case was filed over the "gunfight" with South Keraniganj Police Station.

Contacted, Istiaq Ashfaq Rasel, inspector (investigation) of the police station, told The Daily Star yesterday that they identified the deceased and that they were trying to find out his profession.

"We are investigating the case," he said.

Asked about the "gunfight" with Rab, he declined to comment.

Talking to this daily yesterday evening, Rab-10 Commanding Officer Mahfuzur Rahman said the body had been identified.

"As far as I know, he was the driver of the truck [which ran over and killed the Rab man]," he said, without going into details.

Rab claimed that the truck was carrying cannabis.

The incident involving the truck left Idris Molla, 28, a constable of police, dead. He was deputed to Rab in May 2019.

Rab said a team of Rab-1 set up a checkpoint in Gazipur's Porabari area around 5:30am on February 14 on information that a consignment of 30kgs cannabis was being transported to Mymensingh.

At one point, the truck crossed the checkpoint refusing to follow Rab's signal to stop, sped up, and tried to flee. Constable Idris and Deputy Assistant Director Golam Mostafa started chasing the truck on a motorcycle, added Rab officials.

The "drug peddlers" then attempted to kill the Rab members, throwing a sack of cannabis at their moving motorcycle from the truck.

The Rab men, however, remained unhurt and pillion rider Mostafa got down and seized the sack.

Idris then alone continued the chase. As he drove past the truck and tried to intercept it near a factory in Mymensingh's Bhaluka, the truck ran him over and fled.

Idris died on the spot, Rab officials said.

Law enforcers later seized the truck from Bhaluka, but the driver and others escaped, they added.

Relatives claimed that Shafiq was actually giving another man, carrying a sack, a ride. The man told Shafiq that there were vegetables inside the sack, the relatives said, quoting some acquaintances of Shafiq. There were others in the vehicle, they said.

Shafiq's truck stopped at the checkpoint when all of a sudden someone from behind shouted "run".

Frightened, Shafiq started driving and "accidentally" hit a motorcycle, they claimed, without naming any of the acquaintances.

The Daily Star could not verify their claims.

Md Mainuddin, officer-in-charge of Bhaluka Police Station, said a murder case was filed with the police station after the incident. "We are investigating it," he added.