After killing Hanif Sheikh, one of the khadems of the Mayor Mohammad Hanif mosque in Azimpur, the killer, Saiful Islam, another khadem, wanted to secretly bury the body in a derelict grave. But failing to do so, Saiful left the body in a sack and scarpered. He shaved off his beard and took refuge at the home of a relative, informed head of Police Bureau of Investigation, PBI, Banaj Kumar Majumdar.
On Monday (Jul 8), the chief accused in the killing, Saiful, was arrested from a home in Agrabad, Chattogram, by a team from PBI.
Banaj Kumar Majumdar, said: “Both Hanif and Saiful were working as khadems of the mosque but Hanif was liked because he was diligent. Saiful was a shirker and was demoted by the committee, which enraged him.
On 2 July, Saiful had an altercation with Hanif and left the mosque. Planning to kill Hanif, he came back in the afternoon and found Hanif sleeping. Saiful then took a knife and started to hack a sleeping Hanif.
But when Hanif woke up, Saiful pressed him down, put his hand on his mouth and continued with the attack. At one point, Hanif died.
To bury the body, Saiful put it in a plastic bag and then in a sack. He also cleaned the room and the cushion of the bed. Later, he put the sack in a large basket outside the room.
When other khadims came and inquired about Hanif, Saiful feigned ignorance. At night, Saiful told others that his father had died and he would have to go to his village in Noakhali and, left the mosque. On Jul 3, the dead body started to decompose and tracing the smell to the verandah, others spotted the sack which was not there before. They then informed the police.
After killing, Saiful changed his appearance by shaving his beard and changing his clothes. However, the police caught him from a relative’s place in Chattogram.