A man, who was detained Thursday evening over the November 17 murder of the Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal leader Golam Kibria in the capital鈥檚 Pallabi area, died while in the custody of the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police on Friday.
The deceased is Moktar Hossain, aged around 40, of the Pallabi area in the capital.聽
Moktar was declared dead at Dhaka Medical College Hospital as he had been taken there after DB officers reportedly found him unresponsive in custody, said a press release issued by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
The metropolitan police, on the other hand, formed a three-member probe body led by the additional police commissioner for admin, Md Sarwar, to investigate the circumstances of the death.
Three assailants wearing masks and helmets shot Kibria to death on November 17 at a hardware shop at Pallabi鈥檚 Block C in the capital.
Kibria鈥檚 wife Sabiha Akhter Dina later lodged a case naming five suspects, along with several unidentified individuals.
The police said that they arrested three men- Nazrul, Masum and Zaman at separate places in Shariatpur on November 20.
The police claimed that the trio confessed their involvement in the attack and murder and told the police that the firearms used in killing Kibria were in the custody of Moktar.
Acting on this information, DB officers then raided a garage in Pallabi on Thursday evening to nab Moktar.
During the raid, Moktar tried to flee but was caught with the help of locals, some of whom assaulted him during the arrest, according to the police.
Officers later recovered eight rounds of ammunition from a nearby rickshaw garage based on his confession, the police said.
The metropolitan police said that Moktar was brought to the DB office following his arrest but fell ill at about 1:30am on Friday and was taken to DMCH for treatment.
He was then discharged from the hospital and was taken back into custody.
The police said that they received no response when they went to call him to take his breakfast at about 10:00am.
Following this, he was again rushed to DMCH, where doctors declared him dead.
His body has been sent for a post-mortem examination, according to the metropolitan police press release.