DMP arrests five over Deepto TV staffer murder

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has arrested five people over the killing of Deepto TV staffer Tanjil Jahan Islam aka Tamim over a flat handover-related dispute in the capital's Hatirjheel area yesterday (10 October).

The arrestees - Md Abdul Latif, Md Kurban Ali, Mahin, Mozammel Haque Kabir and Badhan - were apprehended from the Malibagh and Rampura areas during raids conducted yesterday and today (11 October), DMP's Tejgaon Zone Deputy Commissioner Md Ruhul Kabir Khan said at a press briefing this morning.

A case has been filed at the Hatirjheel Police Station over the killing of Tanjil accusing 16 individuals, he said.

Tanjil, who was a broadcast officer at Deepto TV, succumbed to injuries sustained in a violent altercation at an under-construction building at Mohanagar Project's D-Block with employees of real estate developer Pleasant Properties and owners of other flats of the building yesterday.

DMP's Tejgaon Zone Deputy Commissioner Md Ruhul Kabir Khan speaks at the press briefing. Photo: Courtesy

At the press briefing, Ruhul Kabir said Tanjil's father Sultan Mahmud, who owns a portion of the land where the building is being constructed, entered an agreement with real estate developer company Pleasant Properties (Pvt) Ltd a while back.

There was a long-standing dispute between the landowners and the company regarding the allotment of flats to the owners as per the agreement.

Allegations and counter allegations

The nine-storey building, comprising 27 flats, has been constructed on a piece of land owned by three people, including Sultan, according to police officials and local sources.

Speaking to the media yesterday, Sultan said as per the contract, each landowner was entitled to four and a half flats, but Pleasant Properties had been delaying the transfer of his share despite handing over the flats of the two other owners.

The situation escalated when Pleasant Properties' employees began construction work on a flat occupied by the developer company. Sultan and Tamim intervened to stop the work, leading to a violent confrontation, the family members said. 

Tamim was severely injured in the attack and subsequently succumbed to his injuries.

"Department of Narcotics Control Deputy Director Mohammad Mamun is also involved in occupying the flat. They forcefully occupied the flats by holding the flats and landowners hostage with the hooligans," alleged Sultan.

Besides, former chief of DMP's Detective Branch additional commissioner Harun-Or-Rashid's father-in-law Solaiman Mia, who also worked at the narcotics control department, helped Mamun in grabbing the flats, Sultan also alleged.

"But the developers had already handed over the flats of the other two landowners in June 2022."

Sultan also claimed that the police did not help them when they went to file a General Diary over the issue. However, Hatirjheel Police Station Officer-in-Charge Saiful Islam denied the allegations.

When asked about the allegation of launching the attack by sending his men, Sheikh Rabiul Alam Robi, managing director of Pleasant Properties, said, "I did not send anyone there. I had sent an engineer to instruct them to stop the work. There was no attack at the location."

Mamun also denied the allegations brought against him. 

"I am being pressured on purpose. I am not associated with the owner or developer company of this building. My father-in-law bought a flat in the building. I live in my father-in-law's house. I was not at home at the time of the incident. I don't know what happened. You can verify this by watching the CCTV footage of the incident," he said.

Mamun, however, alleged that Tamim's father Sultan vandalised his house with a group of men. "They entered my house after breaking down the door. They also broke the furniture of the house. They even broke the CCTV camera."