Bangladesh: Tareque interrogated at jail

Dhaka, July 8 (New Age): A high-powered committee inquiring into the killing of seven people in Narayanganj after abduction in April interrogated removed Rapid Action Battalion commanding officer Tareque Sayeed Mohammad at Dhaka Central Jail on Monday, officials said. The seven-member team led by public administration ministry additional secretary Shahjahan Ali Mollah interrogated Tareque for three hours in the office room of senior jail superintendent Farman Ali, the officials said. As Tareque denied his involvement in the incident, the probe team asked him what he and his team did after seven people were abducted by a group of armed people, allegedly members of the battalion, said the officials. Committee member Abul Kashem Md Mohiuddin said that they would analyse the statements of three removed battalion officials and decide whom else they would interrogate. The committee earlier recorded statements Masud Rana, who was retired from the navy as a lieutenant commander, and Arif Hossain, retired from army as a major, on July 1 and July 2. Asked whether ruling Awami League lawmaker AKM Shamim Osman would be interrogated soon, another committee member said that they were yet to finalise the date. ‘We need to interrogate many other people to get full picture of the incident,’ said the official. On April 27, seven people, including Narayanganj city panel mayor Nazrul Islam and senior lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarker, were abducted allegedly by battalion personnel from the Dhaka-Narayanganj link road. Their bodies were found floating in the Shitalakkhya river a couple of days later. Following an order from the High Court, the police arrested Tareque, Masud Rana and Arif on May 17 and May 18. The then RAB-11 chief Tareque Sayeed, also the son-in-law of cabinet member Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, was sent into retirement from the army as a lieutenant colonel along with the then crime prevention company commander Masud and the then special company commander Arif on May 5. The British Broadcasting Corporation Bangla service reported that Indian authorities produced Noor Hossain, a prime accused in the case, before a judicial magistrate’s court in North 24 Parganas from the Dam Dam prison, where he was now detained in a trespassing case. A court official in India told media that the court after hearing the arguments sent Noor and two of his associates — Wahiduzzaman Salim and Khan Sumon of Narayanganj — back to jail for 14 days. Earlier on June 23, the judicial magistrate had sent the three to jail in connection with the case, on completion of their interrogation in police custody for eight days. During the hearing, Khan Sumon’s defence counsel appealed to the court to produce the immigration related documents claiming that Sumon used valid document to travel to Kalkata. The court asked the police to produce immigration related documents to the court by Friday. The families of the victims accused Noor and five others of the killings, with the assistance of RAB-11. The police on May 22 sought Interpol’s assistance to arrest Noor after he escaped the country following the murders. On June 14, the Indian National Investigation Unit and the Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested Noor along with the two at Indraprastha apartment complex at Koikhali. On July 2, the foreign minister, Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, told parliament that India had agreed to extradite Noor.