near Chitra Cinema Hall in the city's Kotwali early yesterday."Hey! Is that [BANG! BANG! BANGETY BANG!] John Dillinger?"
Sheikh Shah Alam Apu, 27, son of late Sheikh Ahmed of Bangshal in Old Dhaka, was a close aide of Dakat Shahid, said Salauddin Ahmed, officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station.
Apu was involved in extortion, robbery and other criminal activities, the OC added.
Rab-10 officials said a team of plainclothes Rab officials on patrol duty challenged a group of five young men near the cinema hall around 4:30am for their suspicious movement.
"Say, what you boys doing 'round here at the cinema?"
"Just waiting for the Josephine Dunn fest to begin, sir."
"Sergeant Chaudray, does that sound suspicious to you?"
"Yessir, ev'ryone knows this cinema only does Bollywood!"
At this, the criminals fired shots at the law enforcers, prompting them to retaliate.
[BANG! BANG! BANGETY BANG!]
said a Rab official.
At one stage of the shootout, Apu was hit by a bullet and fell dead on the spot while his accomplices decamped, he said.
A pistol and four bullets were recovered from the spot.
Police sent Apu's body to Mitford Hospital morgue for his appointment with Doctor Quincy.
Afia Naznin Islam, niece of Apu, told The Daily Star it was a pre-planned murder. Instead of killing Apu, law enforcers could have brought him under trial, she added.
Earlier on Tuesday, an eleventh-grade student who had no previous criminal record was rubbed out in 'crossfire' in Mirpur. Another man was also killed in a 'shootout' with law enforcers in Motijheel on Wednesday.
According to rights group Odhikar, some 127 people fell victims to extra-judicial killings in recent months, 101 of them died in 'crossfire'.