Nur Hossain, his aides directly helped Rab

Rab men abducted and executed Narayanganj city councillor Nazrul Islam and six others with direct assistance from Nur Hossain and his men on the ground.

Although Nazrul was the only “target”, the elite force had to kill six other people as they had witnessed Nazrul's abduction on April 27 last year.

Nur Hossain is the prime accused in the seven-murder case. He allegedly gave Rab men Tk 6 crore to kill his political rival Nazrul. He fled the country following the murder and is now in an Indian jail for trespassing. 

Among his men who helped Rab throughout the day was Ali Mohammad, one of the three men known as “three jewels”. 

“Rab would pick up Nazrul today,” Ali was told by his peer Sanaullah Sana around 10:00am when Ali was visiting Nur's house upon his return from hajj, according to Ali's confessional statement.   

Moments later, the now sacked Col Tareque Sayeed Mohammad ordered two Rab teams of 20-25 plainclothes personnel, to go after the “target,” after being informed by Nur Hossain that Nazrul was in town to appear before a court.  

The first team led by Maj Arif Hossain reached outside the court around 11:00am. 

“Around 12:35pm, after boarding Arif's blue HiAce microbus, I found Arif, Nur Hossain and intelligence sources talking about Nazrul,” said Lt Commander Masud Rana, who led the second team.  

As planned, Nazrul's car was intercepted by a patrol team near Fatullah stadium around 1:30pm. Nazrul, his driver and three aides were picked up in one Rab microbus and lawyer Chandan Sarkar and his driver in another.

As the two Rab vehicles drove to Chittagong road, Nur Hossain deployed 20-25 men to guard Dhaka-Chittagong highway, from Signboard area to Simrail intersection, to prevent Nazrul's supporters from blocking the road in protest, according to the confessional statement of Ali. 

“Nazrul commissioner has been kidnapped,” Nur Hossain told his cadres, who patrolled the highway till 5:00pm, by which time the news of Nazrul's abduction became national news.

Around 200 to 300 supporters of Nazrul took to the streets to protest his abduction, Ali reported to Nur Hossain, who ordered his men to hold a gathering of their own.

Within an hour since 6:30pm, more than 100 Nur Hossain supporters turned up at his office at Simrail truck stand.

By this time, Arif called his commanding officer Tareque to send a trawler at the BIWTC jetty under the Kanchpur bridge. He also phoned Nur Hossain to make sure the area was crowd-free, according to Arif's statement.

Arif parked his microbus near the bridge around 10:30pm and Nur Hossain sent nine men to guard the jetty around 11:00pm.

“Some Rab men will come [at the jetty] and they will ask you to do something,” Nur instructed his men, adding: “You will guard the area and prevent people from going to that direction.”

The nine stood guard at various points around the area. It is at the jetty that the seven were killed around 12:30am of April 28.

At one stage, Ali peeped through the window of a Rab vehicle and saw some men lying in it, said Ali in his statement.

After Arif left the jetty on a boat for dumping the bodies around 1:00am, Nur Hossain asked his men to leave the area.

“About 15 to 20 of us accompanied Nur to his house,” said Ali.  

Standing on the stairs of his multi-storey house, Nur said, “I have eliminated the son of a bitch from the face of the earth.”