Police have so far arrested five people in connection with the murder of an employee of a private television channel over the handover of flats of a building to the landlord by a real estate company in Dhaka’s Hatirjheel area.
Of them, four were arrested shortly after the incident and the fifth one was rounded up from the Malibagh area early Friday.
The arrestees are Abdul Latif, 46, Qurban Ali, 24, Mahin, 18, Mozammel Haque Kabir, 52, and Badhan, 20.
Ruhul Kabir Khan, deputy commissioner (DC-Tejgaon zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), provided the information at a press conference at the DMP’s media centre on Mintoo Road on Friday morning.
Rabiul Alam, owner of the developer company and a BNP leader, will be arrested if his involvement is found with the murder, he said.
Drives are on to arrest the rest accused, the AD informed.
On Thursday morning, the 32-year-old Tanjil Jahan Islam Tamim, the employee of the television channel and son of one Sultan Ahmed, was beaten to death allegedly by the owner and employees of the real estate company over the issue.
Tamim had been drawn into a long-standing property conflict involving his family.
Tamim’s father and two other individuals are co-owners of a plot of land in the Mahanagar Project area, where an eight-storey building had been constructed by the real estate company Pleasant Properties (Pvt) Ltd.
The dispute arose when the developer repeatedly delayed handing over five flats that were promised to Tamim’s father under their agreement.
Of the flats, the developer company had sold a flat to one Mamun’s father-in-law. Later Tamim’s father and the real estate company filed cases against each other over the matter.
Both parties reportedly reached a settlement on Wednesday to hand over two of the flats on Thursday.
On Thursday morning, Tamim, along with laborers, was in the process of clearing one of the flats on the seventh floor when the situation escalated.
Being informed by Mamun, the real estate company’s manager, Abdul Latif Mirza, along with owner Rabiul Alam and others, rushed to the flat and allegedly attacked Tamim, beating him severely.
Tamim’s elder brother, Samvir Jahan Islam, tried to intervene but was also attacked by the group.
As the assailants fled the scene, Tamim’s family quickly called the national emergency service 999 for help.
Tamim, critically injured, was rushed to a private hospital, but doctors declared him dead upon arrival.
The victim’s father Sultan Ahmed filed a murder case accusing 16 people with the concerned police station.