'Bangladesh's RAB helped Narayanganj killings suspect escape to India'

Dhaka, May 12 (IANS) The prime suspect in the Bangladesh's Narayanganj seven-murder case, Nur Hossain, has fled to India with help from the country's elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), alleged a family member of the one of the killed, media reports said Monday.

"(RAB Additional Director General) Ziaul Ahsan helped Nur Hossain to flee to Kolkata. Ahsan has sent Nur Hossain abroad to save RAB," alleged Shahidul Islam, father-in-law of slain Narayanganj City councillor Nazrul Islam, reported bdnews24.com.

In an interview with a local newspaper, Ahsan had claimed that Hossain was in Kolkata, going there three days after the April 27 incident.

Ahsan added that RAB were trying to bring back the prime suspect as he held the key to the yet unsolved murder mystery.

The RAB officer said they were investigating whether Islam was involved with the crime.

It is the second time Shahidul Islam, popularly known as Shahid Chairman, pointed the finger at RAB.

He had earlier May 4 claimed RAB officers had taken 60 million Bangladeshi taka (around $772,020) in bribes to perpetrate the crime.

Nazrul Islam and six others were abducted on April 27. The abducted men were found floating, dead, on the Shitalakhyya River several days later.

Three RAB officers, including Narayanganj-based RAB-11 battalion commander Tarek Syeed Mohammad, were removed following the incident, the report said.

However, the RAB's media wing director Habibur Rahman rejected the claims.

"Shahidul Islam is making such claims to divert the investigation," bdnews24.com quoted Rahman as saying.