Death in Rab Custody: Family says it was murder

Majharul Islam

Expatriate Majharul Islam returned home from Malaysia seven years back to look after his parents and their properties.

An outspoken person, he began to emerge as a community leader and protest anything unfair in his village in Kaibartapara of Manda upazila, Naogaon. It apparently angered many.

A murder plot was hatched and he was brutally killed on September 8, said his family after suing a Rab company commander, 20/25 unnamed personnel of his team and eight locals.

Majharul's wife Shamima Akter Swapna in a case filed with a Naogaon court yesterday morning accused Sayeed Abdullah Al Murad, company commander of Rab-5 camp of Joypurhat. 

The case statement also named Kanshopara Union Parishad Chairman Saidur Rahman Mollah, and locals Shahidul Islam, Zahrool Islam, Abdul Mazid, Abdus Sattar, Razzak Hossain, Rafiqul Islam and Selim Uddin.

The cognisance court of Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Abdul Malek accepted the case in the evening and fixed September 21 for passing order on it, said Abdus Subhan, the court's bench assistant (peshkar).

Majharul, who lived on farming and never stood accused in any criminal case, died hours after Rab members arrested him on the evening of September 8.

Some plainclothes officials led by the Rab company commander started beating up Majharul after detaining him near his house, claimed Swapna in her case.

Minutes later, they took him inside the house and hit him with sticks and rods locking him in the bedroom. The plainclothes men, some of them wearing lungi and t-shirts and some with long hairs, also dragged him through the village roads and beat him openly terrorising the areas, she said.

“Those people identified themselves as Rab members but acted like animals,” Swapna told The Daily Star.

Majharul was screaming and claiming his innocence while the Rab personnel were beating him to know the whereabouts of some firearms, she alleged.

“They did not listen to us for a moment,” said Majharul's elder brother Azaharul Islam, a project officer of Brac. “It was like they had come to kill him.”

Before leaving the house, the Rab official threatened to kill Swapna and her five-year son in “crossfire” if they utter a word about the incident, she alleged in the case.

They took away a “nearly dead” Majharul and asked the family members to look for him at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.

Majharul's wife Swapna with their five-year-old son Mustakim Islam. Photo: Star

The family learnt about his death at the hospital the next morning and found his body at the morgue around 7:30am.   

Contacted last night for comments, Company Commander Sayeed Abdullah said he can't talk as he was on an operation. He advised this correspondent to talk to Rajshahi Rab director.

Lt Col Mahbubul Alam, director of Rajshahi zone Rab, rejected the allegations and claimed that Majharul, an “arms dealer”, was detained in a sting operation and he died of “heart attack”.

The official said Majharul was held when he came to “sell three firearms to a man planted by Rab” near his house. He “fell sick and lost consciousness” while being taken to Rajshahi city.

The elite force rushed him to the RMCH where doctors declared him dead around 4:30am (on September 9), said Mahbubul.

Rab members found eight bullets in his possession, the director said, adding, “It is our bad luck that he died; otherwise, we would have seized those firearms.”

The family members alleged that the accused locals and some employees of Rural Electrification Board (REB) and a construction firm also have involvement in the murder.

They said Majharul's death had links to his protest against tree felling for installation of power lines by REB and a clash between two groups of villagers on August 18.

The contractor who got the job cut 200 bamboos and 100 trees, in most cases without the consent of owners, and set up electricity poles, allegedly violating the approved design.

The work stalled when Majharul protested felling of trees belonging to his family and some villagers went against him, leading to the feud, they said.

“Majharul was not against the power line installation; we just wanted to save our trees. The dispute was finally settled. But through the protest, Majharul started to emerge as a leader in the village,” said Azaharul.

Contacted, Milon Kumar Kundu, deputy general manager of REB in Naogaon, said the issues were resolved through a meeting on August 20 in presence of police.

The feuding groups were fined -- Majharul's group Tk 18,000 and his rivals Tk 15,000 -- as some equipment of the contractor was damaged during the August 18 fight, he said, denying involvement of any REB staff in the murder.

Days before his death, Majharul and his brother had received threats over phone. “Let the Eid [September 2] pass. Something terrible will happen to your family,” Azahar quoted a caller as saying.

A school dropout in class-IX, Majharul went to Malaysia getting an electrician's job in 2005. On return, he married Swapna in January 2011.

Majharul's is one of the well-off families in the village. He was planning to start a business of rods and cement.

“There might have been some flaws in his character like we all have. But he was not a person who should have been arrested and tortured,” said a villager. 

A post-mortem was conducted at the RMCH but its findings could not be known.

An inquest carried out in presence of Executive Magistrate Rahima Sultana found injury marks on the body. The Daily Star obtained a copy of its report.