Shab-e-Meraj mosque attack: Accused held at Dhaka airport

Crime - Rafiqul Islam ( middle) held on the charge of hacking a person in Burichang under Cumilla on Shab-e-Meraz night. UNB

Dhaka, Mar 2 - Airport Armed Police have arrested the main accused in the case of hacking with sharp objects a praying devotee inside the mosque in Cumilla.

Rafiqul Islam, was arrested on Tuesday while he was trying to flee to Kuwait, said Airport Armed Police Additional Superintendent of Police Mohammad Ziaul Haque.

On the night of Shab-e-Meraj, 28 February, a young man named Soleman, 28,  was brutally attacked by several people including Rafiqul Islam with sharp weapons at 6:30 pm while he was praying at Baitur Rahman Jame Mosque in Nazirabazar of Burichang upazila.

The victim was admitted to Cumilla Kuchaituli Sadar Hospital in critical condition.

A case was filed against two brothers, Md. Rafiq and Md. Sumon, along with several others at Burichang Police Station on March 1.

Soon after the incident, the main accused Rafiqul, a Kuwaiti expatriate, came to Dhaka in an attempt to escape from the country on a flight of Bangladesh Biman this afternoon.

But the detectives of Airport Armed Police arrested him from the check-in counter of Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

Later, the airport police confirmed the identity of the main accused Rafiq by contacting the Comilla district police.

Additional Superintendent of Police Mohammad Ziaul Haque said the arrestee would be handed over to Cumilla district police.

Attempts were being made to arrest the other accused, he added. – UNB