Military clears police to nab 3 ex-Rab men

The Armed Forces Division (AFD) has given police the green light to arrest the Rab officers suspected of killing seven people in Narayanganj. In a letter sent to Police Headquarters, the AFD said there was no legal barrier to action being taken against three former army and navy officers in line with the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Seven people including Narayanganj City Corporation panel mayor Nazrul Islam and senior lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarker, were killed after they were abducted in Narayanganj on April 27. Rab removed the army’s former Lt Col Tarek Sayeed Mohammad, who was the Commanding Officer of Narayanganj’s Rab-11 and former Maj Arif Hossain, and the navy’s former Lt Commander MM Rana from Narayanganj unit two days after the seven were kidnapped. Officials at both police HQ and Narayanganj district police late Thursday night confirmed that they received the AFD letter clearing the way to nab them. The AFD responded after the Narayanganj police had asked for its assistance in arresting the three former Rab-11 officers. The development comes four days after the High Court in an order asked the inspector general of police to arrest the three former Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) officers. Since the court order, given on May 11, their arrest order was not issued, though there were no legal barriers because of apparent procedural complications between police and the army, according to bdnews24.com.