Rab yesterday detained 18 BDR personnel in connection with the massacre and looting of gold ornaments during the bloody mutiny at the Pilkhana BDR headquarters.The law enforcers detained them from Pilkhana after being ascertained through video footages and information from intelligence agencies of their involvement in dumping army officer's bodies in mass graves and looting gold ornaments during the mutiny, Rab sources said.
The total number of arrestees in the BDR mutiny case has reached 800 as 35 more suspected BDR mutineers were shown arrested in the case yesterday.
Meantime, a Dhaka court placed eight more BDR jawans on a three-day fresh remand for interrogation. About 131 people mostly BDR members have been taken on remand in connection with the mutiny case filed with the Lalbagh Police Station on February 28. The 18 detainees divulged important information about killings, looting and destroying the evidences of the carnage, said Rab in a press release.
The detainees are nayek subedars Abdul Kader and Abdul Mannan, havildars Abu Zafar and Rafiqul Islam, nayeks Entaj Ali and Firoz Mia, sepoys Mizanur Rahman, Rahidul Islam, Mizanur Rahman (2), Mehedi Hasan, Shahinur Al-Mamun, Rafiqul Islam, Mofakkharul Islam, Abdur Rahman, Mukul Hossain, Rafiqul Islam (2), Mazharul Islam and Jahangir Alam.
Rab will hand over them to Lalbagh Police Station that recorded the mutiny case.
Of them, two were detained after looted gold ornaments had been recovered from their village homes in Bogra and Naogaon, Rab sources said.
Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), tasked with probing the case, recorded statements of around 50 more people living around the Pilkhana BDR headquarters.
"We have started taking statements of the people residing around Pilkhana since Sunday to gather information about the massacre. We have received some valuable information," said CID Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police Abdul Kahar Akand, also investigation officer of the case.
Senior CID investigators discussed the progress in the probe into the case at a meeting at Pilkhana yesterday.
Our court correspondent adds: Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Tofael Hassan granted the petition for showing the 35 suspected BDR mutineers arrested in the case and sent them to the Dhaka Central Jail as the CID did not pray for their remand. It also put 15 other suspects in prison after they were produced before it on completion of their five-day remand.
The same court placed eight other suspected BDR jawans on a three-day fresh remand. They are Sepoys Abu Taher, Nafiul Kazi, Joynul Abedin, Masud Ahmed Khan, Shafiul Azim, Asaduzzaman, Kamruzzaman and Raihan Chowdhury.
In the forwarding to the court, the CID said the eight have already divulged important information about the carnage and need to be remanded further for more information.