The killers of Gaibandha MP Manjurul Islam Liton plotted the murder for months in 2016, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has said after arresting a convict.
They planned to kill Liton in October 2016 when he was on his way to Gaibandha from Dhaka, but the plan did not work as he cancelled the trip after reaching Gabtoli, a RAB official said following the arrest of Chandan Kumar Roy, a local Awami League leader who is on the death row now.
The killers later plotted to kill Liton at his Gaibandha residence in December that year. Shaheen Mia, Anwarul Islam Rana and Mehedi Hasan, three other accused in the case and associates of Chandan and Kader, completed the mission after shooting Liton to death when he was alone at home in the evening on Dec 31, the RAB said.
“Former Jatiya Party MP Abdul Kader Khan masterminded the murder with Chandan’s help because they were angry at Liton for several incidents stemming from political rivalry,” RAB spokesman Commander Khandaker Al Moin said at a media briefing in Dhaka on Monday.
A Gaibandha court sentenced Kader, Chandan, Shaheen, Anwarul, Mehedi,Kader’s aide Md Shamsuzzoha and chauffeur Abdul Hannan to death in 2019 for killing the Awami League lawmaker. RAB arrested Chandan in Satkhira’s Bhomra on Sunday night.
Liton brought corruption allegations against Kader after the former Jatiya Party lawmaker won the ninth parliamentary election from the Gaibandha-1 (Sundarganj) constituency, according to the RAB. Liton won the seat in the 10th national parliamentary election in 2014.
Chandan was a deputy office secretary of the Awami League’s Sundarganj unit. Liton angered him by refusing to save him from criminal cases and expelling him on charges of corruption in 2016, Moin said.
Liton was injured in an attack between his supporters and Chandan’s followers in 2015. Chandan was behind bars for 19 days in a case backed by Liton.
“Kader’s aide Shamsuzzoha brought Channdan closer to the former Jatiya Party MP. They later assigned their close accomplices to kill Liton,” Moin said, adding that Interpol issued a red corner notice against Chandan.
Chandan used his brother-in-law Subal Roy, who was a security guard at Liton’s house, to get the whereabouts of Liton, the RAB spokesman said.
According to the plan, Mehedi, Shaheen, Rana, Shamsuzzoha and Hannan received arms training and learnt techniques to flee, he said.
