Mohammadi News Agency News – Features – Photo
DB (Detective Branch of police) identified four suspects for the murder of Xulhaz. The demised worked as a Political Process Analyst at the USAID, 35 years old, and was also the editor of ‘Roopbaan’, the only magazine of the country working with different prospects for the rights of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community. Earlier, Xulhaz also worked as a protocol officer of former US ambassador Dan Mozena for a long time.
USAID official and LGBT rights activist Mannan and theater activist Tonoy were hacked to death in his flat at Kalabagan at Dhaka on Monday.
Police collected video footage from CCTV cameras by the nearest building and some mobile phone video captured by the local people. After analyzing those visual records, DB claims they have crosschecked the images of the youths with the witnesses. Four of them have been identified and they are trying to locate them.
A top DB official, requesting anonymity, said ‘identifiable’ images of four youths were obtained from one of the CCTV videos. The official also said that, the assassins appeared to be university students like those of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider.
An assistant sub-inspector of police named Momtaz was also hacked and critically injured when he ran after the murderers and tried to capture them. He managed to snatch a bag from them. Important evidence was detected in the bag as police claimed. The DB official also added ‘important clue’ was obtained from a mobile phone found in the bag.
In spite of that, the law enforcement agency remains unable to arrest any suspect who has already been identified. Witness statements suggest that the killers knew they would have to flee through a crowd of people and they were ready for that. The killers were well-trained said the forensic experts, who have conducted the post-mortem examinations.
Parvez, the injured security guard, told reporters at the DMCH that, seven young men took part in that murder and were dressed identically as they approached the gate of the seven-storied building and identified themselves as employees of a courier service company. Four of them entered Xulhaz’s flat on the first floor posing as courier-bringers and directly took part in the killings. Three others took position at the gate. They took Parvez, another guard and the caretaker of the house hostage inside a ground floor room, Parvez told reporters yesterday.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia, however, said they would be able to crack this murder case, yesterday on a news conference. He again claimed regular crimes like; theft, robbery and mugging were under control. He also refused to term it as a failure of police as they could not catch any of the assailants while fleeing.
One important point to mention here is that none of the hundreds of people came forward to stop the killers while the killers fled after injuring a police sub-inspector and it was very pathetic. Along with the police, the people also have to act promptly to capture the assailants as the power of people should be threatening to this sort of criminal.
It can be mentioned here that, during the killing of blogger Oyashikur Rahman, few transgender people caught two fleeing killers and handed them over to the police. They did not care for their own lives as the killers were armed and the bravery of these transgender people should be appreciated.
