A cloud of confusion and uncertainty has enveloped the real name and identity of the youth killed in a police encounter on Sunday. The Detective Branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) claimed that the deceased, Sariful, was the mastermind behind the recent spate of targeted killings of online activists and progressive bloggers.  
Family members of the slain youth, however, claimed yesterday that the real name of the youth was Mukul Rana. They said they did not know anything about Rana's alleged involvement in militancy after he had moved to the capital from Satkhira.
The youth's brother in-law Hedayetul Islam and cousin Rahmat claimed that his real name was Mukul Rana. He was a student of Satkhira Government College. This is not in consonance with the DB's claim that the deceased was a student of English Literature at a private university.
According to the family members, the alleged Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) member was the youngest of three siblings. He last visited his village home in February to get married.  
"We really don't know anything about his political involvement," said Hedayetul Islam. Replying to a question, Hedayetul Islam claimed that he only knew that Mukul was living in the city’s Uttara area. "But we didn't know what he was doing there," he said.
"We're even not aware that his photo was published in newspapers and the police had announced a reward of Tk. 5 lakh on his head," he added.
"We came to the capital only to receive his body after his dead body was shown in different television channels," he continued.
The father of the slain militant, Abul Kalam Azad, told The Independent that his son Mukul had been missing for more than four months. He claimed that unknown persons had abducted his son on February 23 from Basundia area in Jessore. He said Mukul was a second-year English honours student in the English department of Sathkhira Government College.
"I had two wives. My first wife died and the second one gave birth to two children—Mukul  Rana and Sharmeen Sultana Mimi. Mimi is a third-year student of Islamic history in the same college," he added.
"I'm involved in the politics of the ruling Awami League and I don't know whether my son was affiliated to any other political party in Dhaka," he said. Mimi claimed that her brother, a brilliant student, had obtained GPA- 5 in both SSC and HSC.
He got married on February 19 to one Mohua Akter Rimi. After that, he had visited his village one last time and then visited his father-in-law’s house in Jessore, said Abul Kalam.
After he was abducted from Jessore on February 23, Mukul's brother-in-law lodged a general diary with Kotowali police station.
But on Sunday, DMP deputy commissioner Mashrukur Rahman Khaled had said the victim, Sariful alias Sakib, the ‘mastermind’ in the Avijit Roy murder case, was a top leader of the banned militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT). He had added that Shariful had masterminded the murders of publisher Faisal Arefin Depan, online activist Nazimuddin Samad and gay rights activist Xulhaz Mannan and his friend Mahbub Rabbi Tanay.