More than 16 months after the murder of Imran Hawlader (32), police have arrested one of the alleged killers through DNA evidence. The murder, which took place following a long-standing dispute, left no immediate clues. However, DNA experts from the Criminal Investigation Department’s (CID) LIC branch successfully identified a DNA sample from the crime scene.
The profile matched that of Md. Selim Matbar alias Rafiq (49), who also has three previous cases against him at Munshiganj and Badda police stations. On Monday, a team from the CID’s Legal Intelligence Crime (LIC) unit tracked him down to Sarulia in Dhaka’s Demra and took him into custody.
According to case files, on February 24 last year, Imran Hawlader was ambushed and hacked to death over a toll dispute in Nandikathi village of Nalchity upazila in Jhalakathi district. His body was then dumped in a water hyacinth-filled pond. Imran’s father, Abdur Rashid Hawlader, filed a case (No. 8) with Nalchity Police Station at the time.
On Tuesday afternoon, CID Special Superintendent Md. Jasim Uddin Khan confirmed that Selim Matbar was handed over to the investigating officer for further legal proceedings. Investigators also created a DNA profile of the main accused, Al Amin Hawlader, who had surrendered in court. DNA analysis confirmed a match between his DNA and the evidence collected from the crime scene.