Intelligence agencies and ruling party men suspected that religious extremists might be behind the killing of Manzurul Islam Liton, ruling party MP from Gaibandha-1.
Ashraful Islam, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Gaibandha, said police detained 18 suspects from different places of Gaibandha district and formed an investigation cell to probe the case. Police are investigating about possible links of extremists to the killing of Liton. Police primarily suspected that religious extremist groups or home-grown militant groups may have a hand in the murder of the ruling party MP.
The district administration deployed Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) men in several points of Sundarganj upazila to ward off any untoward incident. A murder case is yet to be filed and no arrest has so far been made, although police have picked up 18 persons including Jamaat-Shibir men for quizzing in connection with the killing of Liton.
Meanwhile, supporters of the lawmaker observed an upazila-wide daylong hartal (shutdown) in protest against the killing, said police. Pro-hartal activists blocked railway tracks at Bamandanga Station in Gaibandha. The agitated leaders and activists of Awami League blocked two trains at Bamandanga Railway Station on Sunday morning.
Atiur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge of Sundarganj Police Station said, "No case has been filed yet." "We have 18 people in custody for questioning over the murder."
The family said three men riding on a motorbike came to Liton's house on Saturday evening. According to witnesses and police, he was shot twice in the chest and once in the arm. Jewel, an aide to the MP, said there were five men and three of them opened fire on Liton indiscriminately.
Body of Manzurul Islam Liton was taken to Dhaka for namaz-e-janaza before burial in Gaibandha. The first namaz-e-janaza of Liton will be held at Rangpur Police Lines. Another namaz-e-janaza will be held at South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad on Monday. The body will be brought back to Gaibandha for burial.
A three-member delegation of Awami League, led by its central leader Jahangir Kabir Nanak, visited the family members of the slain MP on Sunday. Members of Jamaat-Shibir are involved in the killing of Liton, Nanak said while talking to journalists.
An autopsy was conducted on the body of the slain lawmaker at Rangpur Medical College Hospital (RMCH) on Saturday morning, said Dr Bimal Chandra of RMCH.
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Sunday termed the Gaibandha MP killing 'a cold-blooded murder by communal forces.'
Also the Road Transport and Bridges Minister, Quader warned, "The religious extremist groups will have to pay a heavy price for the killing."
Liton is the second incumbent MP killed by gunmen after the 2005 murder of Awami League's Shah AMS Kibria in Habiganj. Liton, a diploma engineer (marine) by training, was a director of Ananda Group of Industries. It was his first tenure as a lawmaker.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Sunday said killing of MP Liton added a new dimension to terrorism in the country." The Home Minister said the country's law and order situation is on the right track despite the killing of Awami League lawmaker Manzurul Islam Liton."I don't think that the law and order has deteriorated," Kamal said while addressing a press briefing at his secretariat office in the capital.
He said intelligence officials and police are working to find out the killers of the Awami League lawmaker.
