Law enforcement agencies have confirmed that Customs officer Bullet Bairagi, 35, was brutally murdered by muggers while travelling to his rented residence in Cumilla from Chattogram.
Following an investigation by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-11, five individuals involved in the crime have been identified and arrested.
Wing Commander MZM Intekhab Chowdhury, director of Law and Media Wing, disclosed these details during a press briefing held on Monday at the RAB Media Centre in Karwan Bazar.
The arrested suspects have been identified as Rahat Hossain Jewel, Sohag, Ismail Hossain Jony, Sujon, and Hridoy. According to RAB, the five men are members of a professional mugging gang who trapped and killed Bairagi by posing as fellow passengers.
Although he was supposed to alight at Paduar Bazar, the bus dropped him at the subsequent station. To reach his original destination, he boarded a shared CNG auto-rickshaw in which the muggers were already lying in wait.
Immediately after he entered the vehicle, a scuffle broke out with the muggers. During the struggle, the attackers struck Bairagi on the head.
After robbing him of his valuables, they threw him out of the CNG auto-rickshaw. Bairagi sustained critical head injuries from the assault and the fall, which led to his death.
In addition to the arrests, RAB has seized the CNG auto-rickshaw used in the commission of the crime. All five detainees are reported to be professional muggers.
The body of the deceased officer was recovered by the Moynamoti Highway Police around 7:45am on Saturday from the pavement adjacent to a hotel in the Kotbari area of the Dhaka-Chattogram highway.
