Bangladesh News

Businessmen and traders at Karwan Bazar blamed infamous Ashiq group for the Friday’s triple murder aimed at establishing authority over huge amount of extorted money in the city’s business hub.

They said the gang members became desperate to instil fear into the traders, who recently stopped giving extortion to the group after the death of gang member Mamun.

Mamun who was in charge of coordinating extortion from traders at Karwan Bazar was found dead at Gazipur about one and a half months ago. The gang believes that some leading businessmen including the three killed on Friday had hands behind Mamun’s murder, said the traders.

Faruque Mollah, 55, president of Karwan Bazar fruit traders’ association and general secretary of Tejgaon unit Jatiya Party, Ashraf Miah, 53, vice-president of DIT Market Traders Association and senior vice-president of ward-39 Awami League, and Nuruddin Sarkar Jewel, 35, bodyguard of Faruque, were killed in the Friday’s gun attack.

The traders also alleged that recently Faruque got himself involved in the collection of extortion and distributed the sum money among criminal gangs, except that of Ashiq.

Meanwhile, a brother of Faruque filed a case with Tejgaon Police Station Friday night against four local BNP leaders and seven other unknown persons.

According to the case statement, Faruque had a dispute over business with the four BNP leaders who hired gunmen to kill him.

After the killing, Faruque’s family members blamed any of the criminal groups involved in extortion at Karwan Bazar for the murder. They also alleged that different criminals used to call on his cellphone and issued death threats.

Businessmen close to Faruque’s family said they had to accuse the local BNP leaders in the case following pressure from different quarters.

The four local BNP leaders are L Rahman, president of BNP’s 39 ward, Nabi Solaiman, ex-religious affairs secretary of Jubo Dal central committee, and Sayeed and Nurul Islam, two ward level leaders.

Deputy Commissioner of Tejgaon Zone of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Chowdhury Manjurul Kabir told The Daily Star that they have arrested two people suspecting their involvement in the killings. The arrested persons are being interrogated, he said, refusing to disclose their names.

The condition of Abdur Rahim, vice-president of ward-39, who received three bullets in the chest during the gun attacks, is still critical. He is undergoing treatment at Chest Diseases Hospital at Mohakhali.

Meanwhile, panic gripped the Kawran Bazar traders following the triple murder incident. Though trading was as usual, many business leaders did not dare to come to their business establishments yesterday.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner AK Shahidul Haque said he would take steps to contain the number of crimes at Karwan Bazar. He held a meeting with officials concerned in this regard yesterday.

“I know Karwan Bazar was a crime prone zone. But Friday’s killings are astonishing,” said the police commissioner.

He said, “I heard about the telephone calls by top listed criminal Ashiq following the triple murder. Police found all the calls were made from local cellphone operators’ numbers though Ashiq was known to be in India.”

Namaz-e-janaza of slain traders Ashraf Miah and Faruque Mollah were held at Karwan Bazar mosque after Zohr prayers yesterday. Faruque was buried at Azimpur graveyard yesterday. Among others, Jatiya Party Secretary General Ruhul Amin Howlader attended the janaza.