3 held in city for killing Ripa

Police nabbed three suspected members of a gang of muggers in connection with a snatching that left a housewife named Ayesha Akhtar Ripa brutally killed in Sobhanbagh under Dhanmondi Police Station in Dhaka. In a press briefing on Tuesday, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) told in detail about the gang’s activity on that day. Monirul Islam, Joint Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) claimed they seized the microbus and recovered knives and four handbags snatched away from other women at different times. The arrestees are Hemayet Hossain alias Himu, Abul Kalam and Alamgir Hossain alias Ratan. The incident took place on October 28 near Sobhanbagh Mosque when Ripa, 27, along with her friend was going to Lalmatia on a rickshaw early in the morning. Himu pulled Ripa’s handbag whose straps were fastened around her hand. Kalam was on the driver’s seat. Ratan rented out the vehicle to the duo at Tk 2,000 per hour, said the DMP’s Jt Commissioner. ‘The microbus belongs to a high official of a private bank. Ratan has been using it frequently and had plans to buy it,’ Monirul Islam, told journalists at a press briefing at DMP Media Centre. A team of Dhanmondi police arrested the trio from Section 6 of Mirpur around 2:00am, he informed. Ripa’s brother Rafsanzada Robi filed a case with Dhanmondi police on October 29. But family members alleged that police had influenced Robi to leave out the crucial fact in the case. Regarding how Ripa died, the case statement states: ‘Ripa fell down from a rickshaw on the road when muggers in a microbus snatched her handbag near Sobhanbagh mosque.’ It omits the most horrific part of the crime that caused her death: the muggers’ microbus dragged her from Sobhanbagh Mosque to Rapa Plaza on Mirpur Road. Asked about the omission, Monirul said, ‘It will not be a barrier for the investigation’. Detective Branch of Police is now investigating the grisly incident, according to a news agency.