PBI probe reveals murder mystery of Sabujbagh youth after a decade

Nearly a decade after Md Sujon was murdered, the investigation into the case revealed that the crime was orchestrated by his ex-wife's brothers and her lover for Sujon trying to stay in touch with her after divorce.

Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) revealed the findings yesterday after they arrested Sujon's ex-wife Asma Akter Eva, 32, and her two brothers -- Ariful Hoque alias Arif, 34, and Md Rana alias Babu, 24.

The brutal murder of the 26-year-old grille-shop owner took place in Dhaka's Rajarbagh area on March 14, 2011.

A PBI team arrested Eva from Cumilla on February 29 this year and her brothers from Narayanganj acting on information provided by her, Md Bashir Ahmed, special superintendent of PBI, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Arif later confessed before a Dhaka Court and disclosed details of the murder plan, the PBI official said, adding that PBI teams are now conducting drives to arrest two others involved in the murder.

Sujon and Eva got married in 2008, but Eva later divorced Sujon because he "used to take narcotics".

Sujon, however, continued to visit Eva's residence and kept in touch with her after the divorce.

Eva then had an affair with her brother's friend Md Faizul Hoque, 25. Nobody was happy with Sujon's activities. Faizul and Eva's brother Arif physically assaulted him on different occasions.

On March 14, 2011, Sujon left home but did not come back. Sujon's father Abdul Mannan looked for him until Sabujbagh police recovered his decomposed body from a drain four days later, according to the case docket.

During interrogation, Arif told investigators that he, along with Faizul, first planned to kill Sujon because he repeatedly tried to meet Eva after the divorce, Md Fariduddin, a sub-inspector of the PBI and also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Faizul then contacted two other persons -- Sheikh Alamgir alias Kala Babu and Fazlu alias Kuti, who was Kuti's friend -- to execute the plan, said Fariduddin.

Kuti was also an accused in a murder case filed with Sabujbagh Police Station in 2000.

As per the plan, on March 14, 2011, around 7:00pm, Kuti called Sujon to Khalpar area of Sabujabagh. When he reached, Faizul grabbed him from behind and Arif put a polythene mask over his head, and then beat him to death with bamboo sticks, the IO said.

They later dumped Sujon's body in the nearby canal, said Fariduddin.

Four days later, police recovered Sujon's decomposed body from there.

A case was filed with Sabujbagh Police Station in this connection and police officials investigating the case managed to arrest Kuti, Faizul and Kala Babu. However, the case was later transferred to the Detective Branch of police (DB) in 2012.

Seven years after the investigation, DB police submitted a charge sheet before a Dhaka court in 2018, accusing six people, including the three arrested, but could not give detailed addresses of the accused.

Meanwhile, Eva and her two brothers went into hiding with their family members.

In 2013, Eva's family sent her to Saudi Arabia, where she got married to Amirul Islam.

The plaintiff of the case, Abdul Mannan, submitted a no-confidence motion with the court against the DB's charge sheet, and the investigation charge was handed over to the PBI.

Of the three arrestees, Kuti and Kala Babu went into hiding after securing bail from the court, while Faizul continued to appear before court on every scheduled date, said IO Fariduddin.

"We have submitted an application with the court to take Faizul on remand again on Tuesday and also requested it to issue warrants against the two others accused who are absconding," said Fariduddin.

"Once we are able to arrest the three, we will be able to give more details about the murder," he added.

Contacted, Abdul Mannan, the victim's father yesterday said, "I had almost lost my faith over justice, but now I believe that my son's killers will be punished."