Banani Murder: Business rivalry likely behind it

Siddik Hossen Munshi

Investigators primarily suspect a rivalry over manpower recruitment business led to the killing of the owner of a recruiting agency in the capital's Banani on Tuesday night.

“We are primarily suspecting that the killing took place over a business rivalry. However, we are also analysing family and local conflicts involving the victim,” Shaikh Nazmul Alam, deputy commissioner of the DMP's Detective Branch, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Four criminals, aged between 25 and 30, entered the office of Munshi Overseas on the ground floor of a four-storey building on Road-4 of Banani around 7:50pm Tuesday.

They shot Siddik Hossen Munshi, 50, the owner of the agency, and his staff members Mostak Hossain, 39, Mokhlesur Rahman Muslehuddin, 35, and Miraz Parvez, 30, before leaving the office.

The injured were rushed to United Hospital, where doctors pronounced Siddik dead.

A top police official, requesting anonymity, said they learnt that the victim had a conflict with another manpower businessman in the capital's Paltan. The businessman reportedly had demanded Tk 20 lakh from the victim. “We are now analysing the clue,” he said.

The businessman also threatened to kill Siddik and a general diary was filed with Uttara East Police Station over the incident just one and a half months back, the official added.

Meanwhile, victim's wife Josna Begum filed a murder case with Banani Police Station yesterday, accusing four unidentified people, said Abdul Matin, inspector (investigation) of the police station.

Police yesterday circulated images and footage of the four assailants among journalists. They were seen in the footage captured in closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs) of the building.

Police said they were trying to identify and arrest the killers.

Shajahan Shaju, additional deputy commissioner of DB police, said it was a pre-planned murder and footage of the attackers' movement gave the impression that they were professional criminals.

He said some of the attackers were in masks. “We need support from the city residents to identify the attackers.”

In the footage, it was seen that an assailant in a cap entered the recruiting agency office around 7:49pm. The three others followed him moments later.

The attackers completed the killing mission in just around three minutes and left the spot, said Shajahan.

The three injured were undergoing treatment at United Hospital yesterday.

THE KILLING MISSION

Ali Hossain, a peon at the agency, said the assailants stepped into the office asking, “Where is the boss?”

“I was in boss' room at that time to give him drinking water. Suddenly, an attacker entered and asked me to keep mum, brandishing a gun. Then he shot at my boss twice from a close range.”

Two other assailants entered the room next to the owner's and opened fire at three staffers, Hossain added.

The attackers left the office immediately.

Baju, a security guard of the building, said he saw four people entering the building casually. They came out two to three minutes later and walked away.

A little later, he heard someone knocking at the gate on the ground flood.

Opening the gate from outside, Baju saw the bullet-hit people lying on the floor. He soon called in nearby people and took the injured to the hospital.

An autopsy was carried out on Siddik's body at the Dhaka Medical College morgue yesterday evening. Morgue sources said a bullet hit his chest while another his right arm.

His family later took the body to his village home in Tangail for burial.

Talking to The Daily Star last night, Ruhul Amin Shawpon, secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (Baira), said Siddik was an eminent manpower businessman.

He strongly condemned the killing and demanded the government provide additional security to Baira offices as its members were feeling insecure following the murder.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday said the recent killings and incidents of disappearances didn't indicate that the country's law and order deteriorated.

“I don't think the recent killings and incidents of disappearances indicate any deterioration in law and order,” he told reporters after inaugurating a morgue at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital in the city.