Vital evidence left to be collected

With no visible progress in the Kunio Hoshi murder case, police have yet to gather some vital pieces of evidence.   

While the rickshaw on which Hoshi was shot lies in the courtyard of a house near the murder scene, cops did not yet collect the blood-stained clothes of the two people who took the bullet-hit Japan national to hospital.

Legal experts said all this evidence was important to prove the murder and needed to be kept in police custody.

Police version was not available as they did not take calls nor allowed these correspondents to meet them.

Meanwhile, family members of one of the four people picked up by police for "questioning" alleged that they were being tortured to extract confessional statements.

The Daily Star tried to speak to the Rangpur Superintendent of Police Mohammad Abdur Razzaq about the matters over the phone, but only in vain.

When these reporters went to his office, on-duty constable Shafi stopped them, saying he had an "unofficial order" from the SP not to allow journalists for at least three days starting Sunday.  

One of the four is Humayun Kabir Hira, 35, a friend of Kunio Hoshi, who was shot to death by unknown gunmen in Rangpur on Saturday morning.

Hira's wife Sultana Khatun alleged that her husband was being tortured in custody.

"They are trying to make my husband confess to the killing," she claimed.

She also claimed police did not allow her to see her husband even once, although Hira was not a suspect in the murder.

Police had earlier said none of the four were suspects in the case and that they were picked up only for questioning. 

Four days into their detention, cops have yet to produce them before a court. Normally, police are legally bound to produce suspects before court within 24 hours of their arrest.

Kotwali and Kaunia police station officers-in-charge Abdul Quader Jilani and Rezaul Karim did not answer phone calls throughout yesterday.

FAMILY ALLEGATIONS

Hira's uncle Asmat Ullah Bakul managed his way inside the police station yesterday afternoon and saw his nephew limping to come closer to the grill, claimed Sultana.

Monnaf, on whose rickshaw Hoshi was riding when he was shot, was lying on a bench.

"Police change their stories every time I get a chance to meet them. Sometimes they say they will produce him before a court. At other times they say they will send him to other police stations," she added.

BARRING JOURNALISTS

These reporters were prevented from entering the house of Zakaria Bala, in whose house Hoshi was a tenant, in Rangpur city's Munsipara around 4:20pm yesterday.

Kotwali Police Station Sub-inspector Mizan said, "We have orders from the high-ups not to allow in anyone except for law enforcers."

Cops also tried to prevent The Daily Star reporters from entering the house of Nurjahan, in whose courtyards police kept the rickshaw.

One of the two who took Kunio Hoshi to hospital is Aminur.

He said police did not collect his blood-stained clothes.

"I have washed my lungi in the river after coming from the Rangpur Medical College Hospital," he said.