Cox’s Bazar teacher murder: 1 arrested, evidence points finger at Jubo League leaders

Police have found blood and evidence of murder at the home of two local Jubo League leaders in Pekua upazila of Cox's Bazar during an investigation into the killing of school teacher Mohammad Arif, whose body was found on Friday (11 October).

Pekua Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Sirajul Mostofa said Arif's body has already been handed over to the family after an autopsy. "A suspect has been arrested. We are getting a lot of information from him and conducting raids to catch those involved in the murder."

The suspect in question, Md Rubel Khan, was arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from the Andarkilla area of Chattogram city early Friday, hours before Arif's body — inside a weighted sack — was recovered from a pond beside his house.

Rubel used to rent a room at Arif's house when he worked as a market development officer for telecom operator Banglalink and was posted in Pekua, according to RAB-15 Senior Assistant Director (Legal and Media) and Additional Superintendent of Police Md Kamruzzaman.

He said RAB had started a shadow investigation when Arif's family lodged a case after the abductors kept misleading them and demanding ransom. RAB identified Rubel as one of the masterminds behind the abduction and arrested him during a joint raid of RAB-15, 11 and 7.

"During preliminary interrogation, Rubel has admitted to being one of the abductors and calling Arif's family multiple times demanding ransom. He has been handed over to Pekua police.

"Rubel has also given us names of many people involved in the abduction and murder of Arif. Raids are being conducted to arrest all of them," said Kamruzzaman.

Pekua Central School and College headmaster Arif was abducted by some unknown individuals on the night of 28 September when he was returning home from the Chowmuhoni area, according to his family.

Since then, his family has been claiming that Pekua Jubo League President and former upazila parishad chairman Jahangir Alam and his brother Ajgir Alam, the relief affairs secretary of the same Jubo League unit, were behind the abduction.

Their claim is based on a long-standing dispute between the two families over the ownership of lands. Arif's home is adjacent to the house of Jahangir and Ajgir and the abandoned pond, owned by Arif, is located between the two homes.

After he was taken, the abductors demanded up to Tk40 lakh in three phases until 3 October. His family even paid Tk50,000 through the mobile financial services app Nagad, said his family members.

Alleging negligence by police, family members said they lodged a general diary after Arif went missing and filed a case at Pekua Police Station on 1 October after the abductors started demanding ransom.

Police had tracked the last location of Arif's phone at Jahangir's home but did not take any action saying Arif went into hiding on his own, claimed the family members including Arif's wife, sister and brother.

After his body was found, angry locals on Friday afternoon vandalised and torched Jahangir's home and the market he owns in the area. After the fires were quickly doused, police raided his home later that evening and found blood and some evidence of a possible murder in one of the rooms. The blood and evidence were sent for testing, confirmed Pekua police OC Sirajul.

Arif's sister Yasmin Akhtar said, "In our area, my brother had disputes only with Jahangir and Ajgir over land ownership. After he was abducted and his phone's location was tracked to Jahangir's home, we had urged police multiple times to raid their house. But they didn't do anything. If they had, my brother would have been found alive."

However, OC Sirajul rejected the negligence claim, saying, "Police looked into this matter with utmost importance from the start."