The investigation into the sensational murder of Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, wife of Babul Akter, former Chittagong superintendent of police (SP), appears to be stagnating even though five months have elapsed since the incident. The whereabouts of the prime suspect, Kamrul Sikder alias Musa, also remains a mystery. Police are yet to name the person who had hired Musa to kill Mitu or masterminded the sensational murder. Md Kamruzzaman, Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) (Detective Branch (north)) deputy commissioner, who is also the investigating officer, told The Independent yesterday, “There is no new headway in the case. The investigation is on. We will inform you if there is any progress.” Police said Musa, the main culprit, had hired others to kill Mitu, adding that his arrest would solve the murder mystery. The CMP, meanwhile, had announced a Tk. 5 lakh award for information leading to Musa’s arrest. Mystery shrouds the man’s whereabouts, so much so that doubts have cropped up about whether he is still alive or whether he has become a victim of forced disappearance. Musa’s wife Panna Akhter has claimed her husband had been picked up by police.
She dubbed the announcement of a Tk. 5 lakh award for fruitful information about Musa’s whereabouts as ‘drama’ scripted by police.
She alleged police had picked up Musa on June 22 from the house of one of his relatives in the Bandar area. But the low enforcement agencies have denied taking any such step.
She said police were trying to shield someone by refusing to physically bring Musa into the picture.
Police had begun a countrywide drive to nab the killers after the murder. So far, seven people—identified as Wasim, Anwar, Nabi, Kalu, Shahjan, Bola and Rashed and believed to be directly involved in the crime—have been arrested. The arms supplier, too, has been held, police said.
Two of them had confessed to the court that Musa had hired them to kill Mitu. Arms and the motorcycle used in the murder were seized. Those arrested have vehemently claimed they had been hired by Musa and did not plan the killing. But Musa remains untraced behind a smokescreen, and the murder mystery is unlikely to be resolved till his arrest. Police apparently failed to achieve a breakthrough in the past three months. In July, DB police arrested Shahjan from the city and Saidul Alam Sikder, brother of prime suspect Musa from Rangunia upazila of Chittagong. But since then, police have failed to make any headway. They are even in the dark about the murder motive and the planner. Moreover, Rashed and Nabi, who had directly participated in the killing, were killed in a ‘gunfight’ with police. On June 5, Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, 32, wife of Babul Akter, former SP, was stabbed and shot dead at the GEC Circle in Chittagong near her home by a group of motorcycle-borne assailants as she escorted her son to a school bus.