Notorious criminal Chhoto Sajjad placed on remand in Ctg double murder case

A court has ordered that Sajjad Hossain alias Chhoto Sajjad be shown arrested in a double murder case linked to a car chase and shooting in Chattogram.

Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Sarkar Hasan Shahriar issued the order after a hearing on Sunday. A petition for Sajjad to be remanded has also been granted.

Police have been given four days to grill Sajjad and two other suspects in the case -- Md Belal, 27, and Md Manik, 24 -- in their custody.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Raihanul Wazed Chowdhury said, "The court granted the petition to show Chhoto Sajjad arrested in the double murder case at Bakalia Police Station after a hearing.”

"The petition called for Sajjad and the two other suspects, Belal and Manik, to be remanded for seven days. The court remanded them for four days each after the hearing."

Sajjad was arrested in connection with another murder case filed at the Chandgaon Police Station after he was apprehended in Dhaka.

In that case, police had sought a 10-day remand for Sajjad and Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate SM Alauddin later granted five days, according to APP Raihanul.

On Mar 31, two people were shot dead and two others injured during a shooting incident involving a car chase in the city's Chawkbazar Chandanpura area.

The victims were identified as Bakhteyar Hossain Manik and Md Abdullah, both between 30 to 36 years of age. The injured were identified by single names as Robin and Hridoy.

Three days later, Bakhteyar’s mother Firoza Begum filed a case with the city's Baklia Police Station over the incident, naming seven people as suspects.

She alleged that the murders were “planned” by “top criminal” Chhoto Sajjad and his wife Sharmin Akhter Tamanna, who are in prison.

In addition to Sajjad and his wife, Md Hasan, Mobarak Hossain Emon, Raihan and Borhanseh were named as suspects in the case.

After the incident, Chawkbazar Police Station chief Zahidul Kabir told bdnews24.com that the perpetrators chased the car from the Bakalia Rajakhali Bridge and shot two people dead at the entrance to the Chandanpura-Bakalia Access Road.

Md Robin, who is undergoing treatment at Chittagong Medical College Hospital, told bdnews24.com on Sunday that there were six people in the car, including the driver. The deceased Manik was driving, and Sarwar Hossain Babla was sitting next to him.

Babla also features in the police's list of notorious criminals. Like Sajjad, he was also an associate of Sajjad Hossain, aka "Boro Sajjad", a suspect in the murder of eight Chhatra League leaders.

Babla formed a separate gang after falling out with Boro Sajjad. At that time, Chhoto Sajjad, the grandson of a woman known locally as Buri, became Boro Sajjad's right-hand man.

There were reports of disputes and turf wars between the followers of Chhoto Sajjad and Babla across Bayezid and Chandgaon areas at various times over various criminal activities, including extortion. Chhoto Sajjad used to extort money on behalf of Boro Sajjad and Babla extorted money through his associates.

Robin said he suspected that Babla may have been behind Chhoto Sajjad's arrest on Mar 15, and Sajjad's followers carried out the attack to kill him.

The police have not found any trace of Babla and Emon since the killings took place.

Belal and Manik were arrested in raids on Thursday from Chandgaon Khaja Road in the port city and Kanchannagar in Fatikchhari.

Police say Belal was “directly involved in the killings” while Manik supplied a motorcycle.

Belal and Manik are associated with Chhoto Sajjad, police say.

“Although the two arrestees are not named as suspects in the case, we found them to have been involved in the murders,” said Inspector Mozammel Haque of Bakalia Police Station. “We uncovered their involvement by scrutinising CCTV footage and call records.”

Belal was seen firing a gun in the collected video footage, he said. He fled on a motorcycle after the shooting.

The clothes Belal wore on the day of the murder have been seized from his house, the inspector said.

Manik was the owner of the motorcycle used for the crime and was involved in “planning the murder”, he said.

On Oct 21, a young man named Tahsin was shot dead by people in a black car while he was drinking tea at a shop in a remote part of Chandgaon Thana.

Chhoto Sajjad was the prime suspect in the case filed by Tahsin's father at Chandgaon Police Station.

Sajjad, who was in hiding, went live on Facebook on the night of Jan 28 and threatened to beat up Arif Hossain, chief of Bayezid Bostami Police Station.

Then on Jan 30, the CMP announced an “appropriate” reward for finding Sajjad. He was arrested from the Bashundhara City Shopping Mall in Dhaka on the night of Mar 15.