Gunmen killed three persons including two businessmen-cum-ruling alliance leaders, and wounded another in broad daylight at the city’s Karwan Bazar yesterday.
The attack is believed to have been in reprisal for efforts against extortion in the capital’s premier kitchen market.
The three are M Faruque Mollah, 55, Ashraf Miah, 53, and Faruque’s bodyguard Nuruddin Sarkar Jewel, 35.
Faruque was president of Karwan Bazar fruit traders association and general secretary of Tejgaon unit Jatiya Party. Ashraf was former vice-president of DIT Market Traders Association and senior vice-president of ward-39 AL unit. Jewel was Faruque’s bodyguard.
According to witnesses, a gang of around six youths stormed the DIT traders’ association office at 12:45pm. As they sprayed those sitting there with bullets, two died on the spot and the other on the road.
The wounded, Abdur Rahim, is a homeopath and a ward unit AL leader. He was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital before being shifted to the Institute of Chest Diseases and Hospital in Mohakhali. His condition was critical as of filing this report at 8:00pm.
The business community of Karwan Bazar have expressed deep concern about their safety.
Security guard Zakir Hossain, who was present at the office during the shooting incident, told The Daily Star, “I was sleeping on a bench in the corner of the room, and woke up to the sound of gunshots.
“I saw four youths getting onto a white microbus near the TCB building, some 100 metres off the scene.”
They fired a few rounds into the sky to scare off the locals chasing them, Zakir continued.
“I don’t know who attacked the office and who else were there at the time because I was deep asleep after night shift.”
Local businessmen said Faruque, Ashraf and Rahim had lately been campaigning against extortion and other crimes in the area.
Of them, Ashraf and Rahim used to frequent the office as shop owners and former leaders of the market. But it was quite rare for Faruque to spend time there.
Fellow traders took bodies of Faruque and Ashraf to DMCH, while police recovered that of Jewel from 25/30 yards off the scene.
The bullet-hit bodyguard scuttled out of the office, but fell flat on his face on the road and died.
Faruque’s brother Mobarak Mollah told The Daily Star, “My brother was the target while the other two were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Talking to this correspondent at DMCH, he said, “We know who were behind the killings. Wait for the dust to settle, you’ll know everything you need to know.”
Tofael Hossain, Ashraf’s brother-in-law, said they have no clues to the identity of the killers.
Hailing from Karimganj upazila of Kishoreganj, Faruque was a four-time president of the fruit traders association.
Though he had no links to organised crime, he had good relations with top terror ‘Pichchi’ Hannan, who was killed in Rab crossfire in 2004.
Since then, he had his attention totally focussed on business.
Deputy Commissioner Chowdhury Manzurul Kabir of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Tejgaon zone told The Daily Star, “For now we know little about the motive. We are however working to know if extortion had anything to do with the triple murder.”
Businessmen in Karwan Bazar however are convinced that extortionists carried out the killings.
Police recovered a magazine with three bullets from the spot
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