A day after former Chattogram police superintendent Babul Akter was arrested for his alleged involvement in the murder of his wife, RAB on Thursday claimed to have apprehended another prime accused in the case.
RAB sleuths nabbed Saidul Islam Shikder from the Ranirhat Bazar area of Rangunia upazila in Chattogram late on Wednesday night, assistant police superintendent of RAB-7, Nurul Afsar, told UNB.
Earlier on Wednesday, Babul was arrested by the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) after it allegedly established the former SP's involvement in the 2016 killing of his wife Mahmuda Khanam Mitu.
Also read: Ex-SP Babul Akter finally held over 2016 murder of wife Mitu
He was subsequently produced in the court of Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate Sarwar Zahan, which sent him to PBI custody for five days.
Babul was, in fact, arrested after the PBI booked him and seven others, including Saidul Islam Shikder, for his wife's murder, based on a complaint by Mitu’s father Mosharraf Hossain at Panchlaish Police Station on Wednesday noon, said officer-in-charge Abul Kashem Bhuiyan.
In the case statement, accessed by UNB, the PBI has accused Babul for ordering the murder of his wife.
The other accused in the case are Musa, Kalu, arms supplier Ehteshamul Haque Bhola and his assistant Md Munir, Shahjahan, Anwar and Wasim.
Musa, who had planned and led the murder mission, is still on the run. After the murder, Babul had called Musa over the phone and sent SMSes a number of times, according to the PBI.
Other two accused Nabi and Rashed were killed in a gunfight with police in Rangunia on July 4, 2016.
On June 5, 2016, unidentified assailants gunned down Babul's wife Mitu at the port city's GEC intersection while she was going to drop her son Mahir Akhter, 7, for a bus of Chittagong Cantonment Public School and College.
Also read: Babul among 8 sued in Mitu murder
Soon after the crime, Babul had filed a murder case with Panchlaish Police Station against three unidentified men.
Later, police arrested four people, including Abu Nasur Gunu, Shah Zaman alias Robin, Md Anwar and Md Motaleb Mia alias Wasim, from different places in connection with the murder.
Of them, Anwar and Wasim made confessional statements before a magistrate, implicating seven people, including Musa who directly took part in the killing, Mohammad Rashed and Nabi.
During the course of the probe, police had also arrested "arms supplier" Ehteshamul Haque Bhola and his assistant Md Monir and seized a pistol from their possession.
However, the case was transferred to the PBI in 2019, after Mitu's father, himself a retired police officer, filed a complaint against the CMP's mishandling of the case.