Musa admits to involvement in Tipu’s murder: DB

Sumon Sikder Musa, a key suspect in the murder of Motijheel Awami League leader Jahidul Islam Tipu, has admitted to his involvement in the murder, says the Detective Branch (DB) of police.

"During preliminary interrogation, Musa confessed to being involved in the murder plan," said AKM Hafeez Akhter, chief of DB of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, at a DMP Media Center press conference on Friday.

A college student by the name of Samia Afrin Preety, an innocent bystander sitting in a rickshaw, was also shot dead in the random shooting. 

"Police arrested shooter Mohammad Masum, alias Akash, within 24 hours of the incident. In his statement to the court, Akash mentioned Musa as the mastermind and coordinator of the plot and we were looking for Musa ever since," the DB chief says.  

On 9 June, Sumon Sikder Musa was brought back to the country.

On Friday, DB police produced him before the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Farah Diba Chhanda, with a 15-day remand plea.

The court then placed Musa on a six-day remand in the double murder case.

Police will seek the remand of 12 others arrested in the case and Musa will face them separately so they can identify the person who ordered the killing, the DB chief said.

Following the murder, Tipu's wife repeatedly told the media that Musa could not be the mastermind and that someone else was behind it. But the police are claiming that Musa was the mastermind and coordinator of the murder.  

Regarding the issue, the DB chief said, "We will remand Musa and interrogate him. Then a lot of information will surface."

Jahidul Islam Tipu was shot dead in Shahjahanpur on the night of 24 March in a dispute over control of the party and the criminal world in the capital's Motijheel area.