Police Probe Link Between Jubo Dal Leader Murder and 150-Bhori Gold Robbery in Magura; Swechchhasebak Dal Leader Arrested

Police in Magura are looking for a link between the murder of Jubo Dal leader Shaker Hossain and the robbery of 150 bhori of gold. Magura municipal Swechchhasebak Dal convener Md Maruf Hossain has been arrested in the two incidents.

Acting on information given by him, police seized five bars of the robbed gold from a house in the Parnanduali area of Magura town.

Maruf was arrested on Thursday (29 October). When he was produced before a court on Friday afternoon, the court granted a five-day remand in the gold robbery case.

Police have not, however, officially said whether there is a direct link between the gold robbery and the murder of the Jubo Dal leader.

Magura Sadar police station officer-in-charge Md Faruk Ahmed confirmed Maruf's arrest. He said Maruf was being interrogated and, in the interest of the investigation, he declined to disclose details including the quantity of gold recovered.

In the early hours of 21 October, Shaker Hossain (39) was shot dead at the Royal Paribahan counter at the central bus terminal of Magura municipality. He was a joint convener of Magura municipal Jubo Dal. His wife filed a case under murder and arms laws against unknown persons.

Police have so far arrested four people in the murder case. On the night of the incident, Shaker's close friend, Dhaka metropolitan Jubo Dal member Roni Shikdar, and his girlfriend Shamima Tabassum Lubna were detained as suspects. A police source said the gold consignment robbery came to light from information obtained during their interrogation, especially from Lubna.

Last Tuesday, Jhenaidah gold trader Animesh Majumdar (55) was then arrested as a suspect. He owns a jewellery business named Gini House on Gitanjali Road in Jhenaidah town and is currently in jail in the Jubo Dal leader murder case.

The gold robbery case was filed by gold trader Md Mojibor Rahman. In the case filed on the night of 27 October, he stated that the robbery took place at 12:50pm on 6 October in the Ramnagar Bazar area of Magura Sadar Upazila.

According to the case statement, Mojibor Rahman, a resident of Singair Upazila in Manikganj, collected 150 bhori of gold from a trader named Piyush at Tantibazar in Dhaka. To deliver it to trader Animesh Majumdar in Jhenaidah, he boarded a Golden Line Paribahan bus from Sayedabad in Dhaka.

When the bus reached the Ramnagar Bazar area, a group of 10 to 12 people stopped it by identifying themselves as police. They then forcibly took Mojibor Rahman off the bus to an unknown place, beat him there and snatched 150 bhori of pure gold bars and Tk 60,000 in cash from a pocket made under the belt of his trousers, the case statement said. The value of the looted gold was claimed in the case to be Tk 2.9 crore.

District Detective Branch inspector Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman is investigating the robbery case. He said four people had been arrested in the case by Friday afternoon — Md Jewel Hossain, a resident of Parnanduali Beparipara, Toukir Ahmed, Swechchhasebak Dal leader Maruf Hossain and his father-in-law Farid Mondal. Jewel and Toukir were arrested on Wednesday and are in jail. Farid Mondal was arrested on Thursday.

District Detective Branch sub-inspector Md Kamruzzaman is investigating the murder case. He said the court granted accused Maruf Hossain a five-day remand on Friday afternoon.

Several sources have claimed that Shaker Hossain was killed over a dispute about sharing the looted gold. Allegations of involvement by several BNP and Swechchhasebak Dal leaders, including several Jubo Dal leaders living in the district town, have also been raised, and several sources claim some of them went into hiding after Maruf's arrest. Police have not officially commented on these allegations.

Magura superintendent of police Molla Azad Hossain said on Friday afternoon: 'I am not commenting on this right now. I hope the mystery of the murder will be uncovered soon. Five pieces of gold have been seized based on information given by the arrested accused. Police investigation is continuing to uncover the mystery of the robbery and the murder.'