Bangladesh: Tareque to be interrogated at jail gate today

Dhaka, July 7, 2014 (New Age): A high-powered committee inquiring into the killing of seven people in Narayanganj in April will record the statement of former Rapid Action Battalion commanding officer Tareque Sayeed Mohammad at Dhaka Central Jail today, officials said. ‘Since we have completed recording the statements of two other RAB officials, on Monday we will record the statement of Tareque Sayeed,’ said committee member Abul Kashem Md Mohiuddin Sunday evening. The seven-member team led by public administration ministry additional secretary Shahjahan Ali Mollah will start recording the statement at 10:00am in the office room of the central jail’s senior jail superintendent Farman Ali, the officials said. The committee recorded the statements of two of Tareque colleagues–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. On April 27, seven people, including Narayanganj city panel mayor Nazrul Islam and senior lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarker, were allegedly abducted by RAB personnel from the Dhaka-Narayanganj link road. Their bodies were found floating in the Shitalakkhya river a couple of days later. Two cases are currently under investigation regarding the murder. 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. Before landing in jail in June, the three former RAB officials made confessional statements before the judicial magistrate in Narayanganj. Meanwhile, the Indian authorities will produce prime accused, Noor Hossain, who is now in Indian jail in a trespassing case, before a judicial magistrate court in North 24 Parganas, officials said. 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 help 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 two other Bangladeshis at Indraprastha apartment complex at Koikhali. A Judicial Magistrate on June 23 sent Noor and two of his associates — Wahiduzzaman Salim and Khan Sumon of Narayanganj —to jail, in connection with the case, on completion of their interrogation in police custody for eight days. The court is likely to allow a further hearing in the case as the authorities produced an Interpol red notification issued against Noor. On July 2, the foreign minister, Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, told parliament that India had agreed to extradite Noor.