Ex-SP Babul Akter detained in wife murder case

Former superintendent of police (SP) Babul Akter has been detained after interrogation in a case filed over the murder of his wife, Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, after five years, in Chittagong on Tuesday. A PBI official, seeking anonymity, told Bangla Tribune that after PBI grilled him for a day he was held in police custody in the evening.

Earlier, PBI chief DIG Banaj Kumar Majumder told Bangla Tribune that Babul Akter was the plaintiff in the case. He himself came to Chittagong and spoke to the investigating officer.

Earlier in the day, Babul Akhter was interrogated at the Mansurabad PBI Chittagong Metropolitan Office in Chittagong. He was interrogated by senior PBI officials, including Inspector Santosh Kumar Chakma, the investigating officer in the case. 

When asked, the investigating officer of the case, PBI inspector Santosh Kumar Chakma, said he was the plaintiff in the case. Since we are investigating the case, he came to us to know the progress.

On June 5, 2016, three assailants stabbed and shot Mitu dead when she was taking her son to his school bus stop at GEC intersection in the port city.

Immediately after the grisly murder, investigators said militants may have settled a score against Babul as he conducted several successful anti-terrorism drives. Later, they changed their stand, saying that it was professional killers, and that key suspect Kamrul Islam Musa, alias Musa Sikdar, had hired them and plotted the murder.

Later, Babul Akter lodged a case accusing unidentified persons with the Panchlaish police station in the city.

Amid intense speculation, Babul was relieved of his duty on September 6, 2016. 

Though Babul’s father-in-law Mosharraf Hossain stood in favour of him then, he later changed his stance, asking the investigators to probe into any extramarital affairs Babul may have had in order to reveal the truth about the possible mastermind behind the crime.

In a dramatic move on June 25, 2017, Babul Akter was picked up from his father-in-law’s house in Dhaka and quizzed in police custody in connection with his wife’s murder. During the quizzing, it was rumored that Babul was arrested for his alleged connection with Mitu’s murder. However, then police official Babul was freed after 15 hours.

Kamrul Islam Musa, the main accused in the murder, was an informant of Babul Akter which he revealed during his confession on December 27, 2017.

Police have so far arrested five accused in the murder case including two who were directly involved in the murder – Anwar, Motaleb Mia Wasim, Shahjahan Mia, Musa’s brother Saiful Islam Saku, and firearms supplier Ehteshamul Haque Bhola.

Two others, Musa and Kalu, are still on the run.

On June 26, 2016, Anwar and Wasim gave their confessional statements under Section 164 of the Penal Code before a court in Chittagong implicating Musa and several others in the murder.

On July 5, 2016, two of the accused Nurul Islam Rashed and Nur Nabi, were killed in a gunfight with police in Chittagong. Since the murder, CMP has issued a red alert in all land and airports for Musa and Kalu with a bounty of Tk5 lakh for Musa.

Although the police claimed Musa went into hiding, his wife Panna Akhter claimed that plainclothes police detained him and his brother Saku in the Bandar area of Chittagong on June 22, 2016.

Later on, Saku was shown as arrested in the case, but the police repeatedly denied the claims of Musa’s wife.