Five arrested over murder of college student at Shaheed Minar

Police have arrested five people in connection with the shooting and stabbing to death of a college student in the Central Shaheed Minar area of Dhaka.

The pistol used in the murder has also been recovered from one of them, said Talebur Rahman, deputy commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Media and Public Relations Department.

He claimed that the mystery of Rakibul Islam Rakib’s murder has been solved, but he did not initially provide the names and identities of the arrestees.

Talebur added that details will be announced at a press conference to be held at the DMP's Media Centre on Thursday afternoon, bdnews24.com reports.

Earlier, Shahbagh Police Station chief (OC) Md Moniruzzaman had announced that three people had been taken into custody in connection with the murder.

Two more people “directly involved” in the attack have been identified and kept under surveillance, a police official had said.

The 25-year-old Rakib, a second-year Bachelor of Arts student at Shaikh Burhanuddin Post Graduate College, was hacked and shot dead at Shaheed Minar on Sunday night.

Rakib used to make video content for TikTok and various social media platforms. His father is an employee of Dhaka University.

Rakib was hanging out with friends at Shaheed Minar around 9:15pm when three or four people suddenly attacked, stabbing him and shooting him in the head. He later died.

According to Rakib's friend Al-Amin, the attackers fled after the attack.

Rakib’s family hails from Bhola Sadar Upazila. His father is Tariqul Islam Khokon, an employee of Dhaka University's Maitree Hall. Rakib lived with his family on Nazim Uddin Road in Nimtoli.

Investigators said Rakib was hacked and shot dead “over a woman”.

Police said that, after the attack, the general public detained a young man who was among the attackers and handed him over to the police. Based on information he provided during the interrogation, four more suspects were arrested in a raid.

Rakib's father Tariqul has filed a murder case with Shahbagh Police Station over the killing.

Police said that Rakib had 10 stab wounds in different parts of his body, as well as two bullet wounds.

One of the bullets entered the right side of his head above the ear and exited through the left side of the head. Another hit his back on his right side.

Rakib's mother Razia Begum said that no one had any enmity with her son.

At the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) morgue, Rakib's wife Habiba Akhter said, "My husband met a content creator named Jannat Moon while attending another content creator's wedding in Bogura. Since then, Jannat used to visit my house.

"While she was at our house, my husband realised that Jannat was talking to someone on the phone about drug trafficking. Jannat's boyfriend threatened to kill my husband over the matter. A few days later, Jannat's boyfriend made another threat over a Facebook comment. Then he threatened to shoot him."

Rakib’s wife believes that those who made the threats planned to kill Rakib when he went to meet friends at Shaheed Minar on Sunday night.