A fatal mugging that killed a school headteacher in front of Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban has exposed a deep fault line in policing system, after two law enforcement agencies identified different groups of suspects in a crime where CCTV footage clearly shows only two attackers.
The Special Response Battalion (SRB), formerly Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), arrested three men within days of the 29 August incident and placed them on remand as suspects. Seventeen days later, the Detective Branch (DB) arrested two other men, claiming they were the actual perpetrators.
The conflicting claims have raised fundamental questions over how suspects are identified, what evidence supports arrests and whether individuals can be subjected to detention and remand without sufficient verification.
The episode has also revived long-standing concerns over a pattern of arresting people on suspicion before establishing their involvement through evidence.
Terming the practice a systematic problem, ASM Nasir Uddin Elan, director of the human rights organization, Odhikar, “Arresting individuals merely on suspicion, subjecting them to lengthy remands, and allegedly exposing them to custodial abuse are extremely grave matters.”
“This is not an isolated incident; it has happened repeatedly,” Elan told TIMES.
The fatal attack
In the early hours of 29 August, Ranjila Parveen, headteacher of a school in Bogura, and her husband Abdul Matin were travelling by rickshaw along Manik Mia Avenue, having arrived in Dhaka for medical treatment.
Near Khejurbagan, two men on a motorcycle intercepted them. One assailant forcibly grabbed Parveen’s handbag, pulling her onto the tarmac. She sustained severe injuries and subsequently died.
CCTV footage captured two individuals on a motorcycle carrying out the assault. The following day, SRB detained Mosharraf Hossain Poni (also known as Para Poni), his associate Cedric Julian, and Md Rakib Hossain, the owner of a motorcycle. SRB publicly identified Poni as the principal suspect.
However, major discrepancies surfaced immediately. The Yamaha R15 seized by SRB failed to match the make, model, or colour of the vehicle visible in the CCTV footage. Furthermore, Poni informed journalists whilst in SRB custody that his vehicle was black and white, whereas the motorcycle captured at the crime scene was blue.
Despite these contradictions, all three men were placed on five days’ remand.
Sub-Inspector Shahin of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station subsequently applied for a 10-day remand, maintaining that interrogation was essential to uncover the facts, trace unnamed accomplices, and arrest the alleged masterminds.
DB’s suspects
Seventeen days after the initial arrests, DB Additional Commissioner Shafiqul Islam announced that the DB’s Tejgaon division had arrested two different suspects: Md Khokon and Md Rajib Matubbar.
Shafiqul stated that investigators identified Khokon in Monipur Pashchimpara, Mirpur, after reviewing CCTV footage and analysing technical intelligence.
According to DB, Khokon confessed during questioning that he was the pillion passenger who snatched Parveen’s bag.
Acting on information provided by Khokon, officers recovered the stolen handbag from Mirpur’s Barabag area, containing Parveen’s clothes, travel ticket fragment, glasses case, and medication.
Matubbar was subsequently arrested in Birulia, Savar. The DB identified him as the rider of the motorcycle. Based on Matubbar’s statement, police seized the blue motorcycle used in the crime from Diabari, Uttara.
Shafiqul added that Parveen’s husband had caught a brief glimpse of one of the attackers and provided a description that matched Khokon. He explicitly confirmed that the three men originally arrested by SRB were not involved in the killing.
SRB defends initial detentions
Naimul Hasan, commander of the SRB unit that conducted the initial arrests, defended the operation, stating the men were detained as suspects based on intelligence leads.
“The three were detained as suspects during the investigation. They are professional criminals,” he told TIMES, adding, “If evidence is not found during the investigation, they will be dropped from the charge sheet.”
Poni’s elder brother, Roni, alleged that SRB had harassed his brother, a claim Naimul rejected as unfounded.
The episode leaves a central question unresolved: what objective evidence linked the first three men to the fatality, and how did investigators later conclude that two entirely different individuals were responsible?
The case has unfolded alongside wider institutional restructuring; RAB has since been dissolved, with its personnel and assets transferred to a newly established force, the Special Response Battalion (SRB).
Meanwhile, the DB maintained that its findings against Khokon and Matubbar are definitive, supported by CCTV evidence, intelligence analysis, and physical recoveries.
According to police records, Matubbar faces eight existing cases involving arms offences, robbery, theft, and assault, whilst Khokon has three prior drug-related charges.
