In a twist to the gruesome murder of Umme Salma in Bogura, police announced today (November 15) that she was murdered by one of her tenants; this contradicted the Rapid Action Battalion’s (RAB) earlier statement accusing his son of murder.

Faridpur Police spokesperson Additional Inspector Suman Ranjan Sarker told Business Standard that three new detainees confessed to Salma’s murder at the Dupachaia Executive Court in Bogura today.

The newly arrested include 50-year-old Mabia Begum, wife of Aiyub Ali, from Uttar Sajapur village of Chamrul union; His friends are 26-year-old Muslim Uddin from Taluch Paschimpara village of Gunahar union; and Rabi Das, 28, a rickshaw pickup driver from the same area.
They were arrested Thursday night.

According to Faridpur Police, Mabia was a tenant in Salma’s house. He was engaging in “immoral and drug-related activities” at the home. When Salma and her husband Azizur Rahman noticed the situation, an argument broke out between them. They also asked Mabia to leave the house because she had not paid rent for two months.

“Mabia was angry with Salma. She and her friends – drug dealer Suman and Muslim – planned to kill her. First, Mabia entered the house alone, then called the other two on the phone. The two men used an anesthetic spray to knock Salma unconscious.

They then tied him up, put him in the freezer and left the house,” a police official said on condition of anonymity, referring to confessional statements.

Police sources said that according to the information given by the newly arrested people in their confessions, the weapons and other materials used in the murders were also seized.

Meanwhile, new findings have raised doubts about the RAB statement published on November 12, in which elite forces claimed that Salma’s own son Saad Bin Azizur Rahman killed her and confessed to the murder.

Additional Inspector Suman said, “We have no such evidence that Saad killed his mother. Even if he had confessed the murder to RAB, he did not do so before the court as per Section 164. He was arrested.”