Rapist killed in Rajshahi gunfight: Rab

A rapist was killed in a shootout between Rapid Action Battalion members and drug peddlers in Rajshahi's Puthia upazila early today, a Rab official said.

The deceased -- Ekhlas Uddin (32) of Gondogohali village in the upazila-- was a drug peddler, Rab-5 duty officer Corporal Harunur Rashid told media.

Ekhlas was accused in case filed on charges of raping his 12-year-oldsister-in-law (wife's sister) Eva Khatun and provoking her to take her life in April.

The Rab official said the shootout took place around 4:00am when a group of drug peddlers opened fire at a Rab patrol team during an anti-drug raid at Peergachha village.

After the shootout, the Rab members rescued one of the drug peddlers with bullet-wounds, the Rab official said, adding that he was taken to Puthia Upazila Health Complex where doctors declared him dead at 5:00am.

Later, locals identified the deceased as Ekhlas, said the Rab official.

Ekhlas raped Eva, a sixth grader, on January 25 when she went to his house for visiting her sister, according to Puthia police.

Asked, Ekhlas denied the allegation brought against him and also threatened Shova with divorce.

On April 9, Eva took her life by hanging herself.

Her father Selim Uddin filed a case with Puthia Police Station against three persons -- Ekhlas, his father Abdul Kashem and mother Jarina Begum.

On June 10, Selim Uddin alone stood up with a banner on the road in Puthia upazila, demanding the arrest and exemplary punishment of the rapist.

The next day, concerned citizens of Rajshahi city brought him to the town and expressed solidarity with him. They held a demonstration in the city's Shaheb Bazaar area.

Contacted, Ekhlas's uncle Zinnat Ali claimed that Ekhlas was picked up by the law enforcement agencies from Dhaka's Fatulla area on July 4.

Zinnat Ali said he did not know that Ekhlas was a drug-peddler. He was a rickshaw-puller, he said.