Once the plaintiff, ex-SP Babul Akter now shown arrested in wife’s murder case
Babul’s lawyer says they will now go up to the High Court with two lawsuits filed for the same incident
Disgraced superintendent of police (SP) Babul Akter has now been shown arrested in his own case filed for the murder of his wife Mahmuda Khanam Mitu.
On Sunday, Chattogram Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Muhammad Abdul Halim issued the order upon accepting the plea made by the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), Abu Zafar Mohammad Omar Faruk, inspector of PBI, told The Business Standard.
The PBI filed a petition in this regard with the Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate Court on 30 December last year.
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PBI Inspector Faruk, also the investigating officer (IO) of the case, said, "The offences of Babul Akter, the plaintiff of his wife's murder case, were primarily proved. Therefore, according to the rules, we file a petition with the court to show the plaintiff of the murder case arrested."
However, Babul Akter's lawyer, Advocate Iftekhar Saimul Islam Chowdhury, said, "Babul is now in jail in connection with the murder case filed by his father-in-law for the murder of his wife Mitu. We will go to the High Court for showing him arrested in the two murder cases over the same incident."
On 5 June 2016, Mitu, wife of former police superintendent Babul Akter, was stabbed and shot dead when she was walking her son to his school-bus stop at the port city's GEC intersection.
A day later, Babul filed a case against three unidentified men with Panchlaish Police Station.
Babul, initially a plaintiff in the Mitu murder case, turned into the prime accused in a cruel twist of irony. The final report of the case was submitted and then Mitu's father Mosharraf Hossain filed a new case, making Babul the prime accused.
The plaintiff in the case statement claimed Babul got involved in an extramarital affair with an NGO worker while he was posted in Cox's Bazar as additional superintendent of police, creating a rift in the relationship between Mitu and Babul. Mitu informed her parents about the mental and physical torture she endured during the family feuds after finding out about her husband's alleged affair.
On the night of 24 June 2016, Babul was interrogated at the Dhaka Detective Police Office for about 15 hours. On 7 September that year, the home ministry fired him.
The detective police has been investigating the case from the beginning. However, when nearly three years of investigation produced no results, in January 2020 the court ordered the PBI to investigate the case afresh.
