After arresting five people for the murder of 78-year-old Mansur Ali at Old Dhaka’s Khaze Dewan Road, police say the victim's grandchildren abbetted the robbery which led to his death.
The detainees were identified as Mansur’s grandson Shahadat Mubin Alvi, 20, his granddaughter Anika Tabassum, 23, Anika’s friend Raju, 22, and Raju’s younger brothers Raihan, 20, and Sayeed, bdnews24 reports.
They were arrested in the Bakshibazar, Munshiganj and Chandpur areas on Tuesday night.
Anika is a student at a private dental medical college while her brother Alvi studies at a higher secondary school, said Biplob Bijoy Talukdar, joint commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
The two planned the robbery after the family refused to give them money to travel. Anika involved her friend Raju in the plan.
The group planned to steal Tk 30,000 while most of the family were away at a wedding on Nov 17.
Anika gave Raju a duplicate key so he could get into the house. When Mansur tried to stop the robbery, they fatally attacked him.
Anika was with the rest of the family at the wedding, but Alvi was at the scene of the crime.
When the family returned home, they found Mansur lying face down on the floor, with his hands and feet tied. They rushed him to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead.
Raju was first identified using CCTV footage, said Biplob. Police subsequently learnt that he was Anika’s friend. Later, the conversations between the two and the messages they sent to each other online were investigated, leading to the arrests of Anika, Alvi and Raju.
Based on the information gleaned from their questioning, the other two suspects were arrested. A sixth suspect is still at large.
The group confessed that they had gathered medicine and syringes to render Mansur unconscious during the robbery, but when he tried to stop them, they ended up killing him.
Anika, whose father is a doctor at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, gave Raju the syringes and sedatives, according to Md Jafar Hossain, deputy police commissioner of the Lalbagh Division.
But no other member of the family knew about the plan, he said.
Mansur had three sons and a daughter. He was the president of the local Baitun Noor Jamme Mosque.
Alvi and Anika are the children of his daughter.
The siblings were not drug addicts, but had planned to travel after their exams, according to the police. Raju and the others are, however, involved in drugs.
Police recovered Tk 62,500 of the Tk 92,000 stolen from Anika’s house in Bakshibazar.
