They were 'picked up' a day before

Three of the four youths found shot dead in Narayanganj on Sunday morning were picked up by detectives from the district's Gausia the previous day, family members claimed after identifying them at a local hospital yesterday.

The dead are Jahirul Islam, 24, Faruk Hossain, 35, and Sabuj Sarder, 24, from Dharmagram village in Pabna Sadar upazila.

Some people identifying themselves as detectives picked up the three along with Jahirul's cousin Liton Hossain from Faruk's house in Gausia of Bhulta, alleged Faruk's step father Jamal Pramanik.

Liton, who also is from Dharmagram, is still traceless, Jamal told The Daily Star.

Their families, however, have no idea about their links with the other dead, Lutfor Molla, 42, said to be a microbus driver from the capital's Rampura Power House area.

Lutfor's wife Reshma Akter, who identified his body at Narayanganj General Hospital on Sunday, said her husband had been missing since 1:00am on Saturday and she filed a general dairy with Rampura Police Station later on the day.

The bodies were found in Panchrukhi Paschim Para of Araihazar upazila. They all were hit in the back of their heads with shotgun shells fired at close range.

Family members of the four victims and Liton said they were innocent and not accused in any case. And they do not have any political involvement.

Ambia Khatun, mother of Sabuj, said Liton, Jahirul and her son are cousins and they went to visit Faruk a week ago. The three were staff of Azad Bakery in Pabna, she added. 

Visiting Azad Bakery in Boro Bridge area, our correspondent learnt that it has remained closed for the last couple of years.

Meanwhile, Sub-Inspector Rafiquddoula Rafiq of Araihazar Police Station filed two cases yesterday -- one for murder and the other under the Arms Act.

The four were killed in an exchange of fire between two groups of criminals, SI Rafiq said, citing the case statements. Later, police found the four dead and recovered two pistols with a bullet and a silver-colour Noah microbus from the spot, he added.

Family sources say Faruk was the driver of a Glory Express bus of Dhaka-Gausia route. He used to live in a rented house at Gausia, around 40km off the district town.

“On Saturday evening, a group of people identifying themselves as members of Detective Branch police picked up Faruk, Jahirul, Sabuj and Liton. They remained missing since then,” Jamal Pramanik told The Daily Star at Narayanganj General Hospital morgue after identifying Faruk's body.

Faruk had two wives -- one used to live in Gausia with him while the other was in Pabna, he said.

Jamal said Faruk's wife, who lived in Gausia, called him on Saturday night and told him that the DB had detained the four.

Faruk's daughter Fahima Khatun, living in Pabna, said they could not contact his father since Friday. She added that her father was living in Narayanganj for the last 15 years.

Nazrul Islam, father-in-law of Jahirul, said Jahirul went to Faruk's Gausia house about 10 days back from where he was picked up. Through Facebook, they came to know about the recovery of four bodies.

Suborna Begum, wife of Jahurul, said the last time she talked to her husband was on Friday when he asked her to send some money through bKash. She could not reach him over phone after that.

Neighbours of Faruk, Jahirul, Sabuj and Liton in Pabna said they had no criminal record in the locality.

Masud Rana, officer-in-charge of Ataikula Police Station in Pabna, also confirmed that the four were not accused in any case in local police station.

He, however, said, “As they often do not stay in the village as we came to know, maybe they were involved in robbery in different other areas.”

Asked about the allegation raised by the family members, Abdullah Al Mamun, an additional superintendent (crime) of Narayanganj district police, said detectives did not conduct any raid in the said area on Saturday. But if anyone files a complaint, they will look into the matter.

Meanwhile, the highway police recovered the body of an unknown youth from near the Asian Highway Bypass Road in Rupganj and buried it after an autopsy on Sunday as nobody claimed it.

Liton's mother Shefali Begum still does not know the fate of her son. But relatives suspect that the unknown youth could be Liton as the body was found almost the same time of recovery of the four others.

Kayum Ali, officer-in-charge of Kanchpur Highway Police Station, said the marks on the body suggested the youth was killed in a road accident. They buried him as nobody came to claim the body.

[Our Narayanganj and Pabna correspondents contributed in the report.]