Anisur Rahman Selim, an assistant engineer of Gazipur City Corporation, has confessed to a magistrate that he was the mastermind behind the murder of his senior colleague, executive engineer Delwar Hossain.

"According to my plan, I hired someone to kill Delwar, following conflicts over a previous enmity. Delwar had strongly disagreed with me regarding some of my office activities. This is why I, along with the hired goons, killed him," Selim said in his confessional statement.                                                           

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Shahinur Rahman on Wednesday recorded the confessional statement after Md Mofizul Islam, an inspector of Turag Police Station and also the investigation officer of the case, brought Selim to the magistrate's chamber upon completion of his five-day remand.                

After recording the statement, Selim was sent to Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj on Wednesday.

Around 9:30am on May 11, Selim, along with the other killers, went to Delwar's residence in Mirpur with a microbus, he said in his statement.

To get Delwar out of his house, they paid a rickshaw-puller, who was passing through the area, Selim told the court.

They gave Tk 100 to the rickshaw-puller to make him call Delwar, saying that he has a delivery to receive.

As Delwar came out of the house, microbus driver Habib Mia and hired goon Helal Howlader Shahin dragged him into the vehicle, Selim said in his statement.                                                     

When they reached Rupnagar Beribadh area, Shahin strangled Delwar with a rope and Selim grabbed his leg. Delwar's body was then dumped on an empty plot of Uttara sector-17 near Beribadh, he said.

Delwar's cellphone was also thrown into a lake in Dishari area, Selim continued.                              

Police recovered the body of the victim from Beribadh around 4pm on the same day, and the victim's wife Khodeja Akhter identified the body at Shuhrawardy Hospital the next day.

Later, she filed a case with Turag Police Station against unidentified people.              

Selim, Habib and Shahin were arrested recently. Of them, Habib and Shahin gave confessional statements before the same court in the case on May 21.

The rickshaw-puller also gave a judicial statement before a magistrate as a witness.                                

Earlier on May 26, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) urged the government to ensure justice for Delwar, who was killed for his stance against corruption.                                                         

They also asked the authorities concerned to bring those responsible for the murder to justice through proper investigation and compensate Delwar's family in a fair way.