It was a murder

Accusing the Rab of killing Hazaribagh thana Chhatra League president Arzu Miah, local Awami League lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh demanded proper investigation into the incident and trial of “perpetrators of the crime”.

“Arzu was a brilliant student. He was polite and innocent. But the Rab killed him without a trial,” Taposh told The Daily Star last night.

“The Rab men involved in the killing must be identified and tried,” he said.

Arzu, 28, was killed in a “gunfight” between his associates and Rab men at Baroikhali in the capital's Hazaribagh early on Tuesday. He was the prime accused in the Raja Miah murder case. The 16-year-old was beaten to death in Hazaribagh on Monday.

The lawmaker from Dhaka-10 said Raja's killing was an unfortunate incident. He demanded justice for the murder.

Local AL leaders claimed that Arzu was a victim of a conspiracy and the allegation brought against him was false.

Speaking at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity on Wednesday, Hazaribagh AL leaders demanded the government ensure punishment to “Rab officials who staged the gunfight”.

Despite rain, hundreds of Hazaribagh residents, including the leaders and activists of the local unit AL and its front organisations, attended the namaj-e-janaza of Arzu at Hazaribagh Park on Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Law Minister Anisul Huq yesterday said a judicial inquiry might be launched into the incidents of recent killings of AL men in “gunfights”.

If lawful inquiries into such incidents are conducted, the offenders will be brought to book; the law enforcers will be cleared of allegations if found not guilty, he told reporters at his Secretariat office.

Addressing a discussion in Chittagong, Gono Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain yesterday stressed the need for formulating a unanimous resolution to end all kinds of extrajudicial killings in the country, reports our Chittagong correspondent.

“Killing a person without a trial is a crime. I can say without any hesitation that it [extrajudicial killing] is unjust. I'm always against it,” said the veteran jurist.

The discussion was titled “Rule of Law and Freedom of Judiciary”. Ainjibi Oikya Front organised the programme at Lawyers' Hall in Chittagong Court Building.

RAB'S VERSION

Ferdawsi Rahman, assistant director of Rab-2, said a team of the elite force took Arzu to Baroikhali early on Tuesday to arrest the others involved in Raja Miah's murder.

“His cohorts opened fire on the Rab men at 2:35am.”

“Wounded, Arzu was found lying there after the gunfight. He was later taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital,” added Ferdawsi.

Doctors at the hospital pronounced him dead around 5:30am.