Prime accused brought home

Looking pale and puzzled, he kept his head down most of the time.

Wearing a helmet and bullet-proof jacket, Kamrul Islam, the prime accused in the Rajon murder case, was walking slowly under police escort at the departure lounge of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 3:00pm yesterday.

A short while ago, a Biman flight carrying him touched down.

Kamrul was brought back from Saudi Arabia, three months after he fled Bangladesh, thanks to negligence of some policemen.

Police took the Interpol's help to have him back as Dhaka has no extradition treaty with Riyadh, Assistant Inspector General (media) Nazrul Islam of police headquarters told the press at the airport.

A three-member team headed by Additional Superintendent of Police Mahbubul Karim of Interpol's Dhaka office went to Saudi Arabia on October 12. The other two are from Sylhet Metropolitan Police.

Around 10:00pm yesterday, the detainee was taken to Sylhet.

In a video that went viral in the social media, Kamrul in a black T-shirt and lungi was seen hitting 13-year-old Samiul Alam Rajon with a stick in the feet, joints of legs, shoulders and in the head.

He was among the group of brutes who were torturing Rajon in Sylhet on July 8. The boy died of brain haemorrhage; his body bore 64 injury marks. 

The victim's father filed a case in which Kamrul was made key accused.

On September 22, a Sylhet court framed charges against 13 people, including Kamrul. Of those indicted, 11 have been arrested so far.

Caught in Jeddah by some expatriate Bangladeshis on July 13, Kamrul was handed over to local police. Later, he landed in jail in Riyadh from where he was flown to Dhaka.

The Saudi authorities agreed to deport him following joint efforts by Bangladesh foreign ministry, police headquarters and Bangladesh mission in Saudi Arabia, according to ministry officials.

Police say they have so far brought back 10 accused, including Kamrul, from different countries through the Interpol in the last five years.

Briefing the media at the airport, AIG Nazrul said Kamrul would be produced before a Sylhet court today.

On police negligence that helped the accused flee the country, he said two to three police personnel found complicit have already been quizzed. They would be punished.

THE KILLING OF RAJON

Rajon's "crime", they claimed, was trying to steal a rickshaw van. One of the culprits filmed the torture on a mobile phone and shared it in the social media.

The sickening video shook the nation to its core and stirred outcries in the social network and the mainstream media.

Tied to a pole, the boy screamed for help, cried for water and begged for his life. But the group showed no mercy. They rather laughed and made fun of the helpless kid.

They kept beating him, at times knocking him down to the ground, and asking how he would like to take the beating. When Rajon cried for water, they asked him to drink his own sweat.

This was how Rajon was tortured to death by Kamrul and several others in Kumargaon Bus Stand area of Sylhet Sadar upazila on July 8.

After the killing, the culprits were taking his body on a microbus to dump it in a secluded place, but locals spotted them and managed to catch one from the group.

Police recovered the body from the microbus.