The ringleader of the outlawed New Biplobi Communist Party (NBCP) was killed in a “shootout” between his accomplices and Rapid Action Battalion personnel in Dumuria upazila of Khulna early yesterday.
Deceased Shailendra Nath Biswas Shailan, 48, was a listed criminal operating in the southwestern region of the country, said police. He had also been sentenced to life term imprisonment in a murder case.
On information that some outlaws were holding a clandestine meeting at Shalua Bazar in the upazila, a Rab team raided the area around 3:30am, said Lt Commander Noor-e-Alam, operation officer of Rab-6, Khulna.
As soon as the team reached the spot, the outlaws opened fire on the Rab men, forcing them to fire back. That triggered a “gunfight”, the Rab official said -- a common version provided by the law enforcers after every such gunfight when deaths take place.
After the criminals managed to flee the scene, the Rab team found a man lying on the ground with bullet injuries, he said. Local people identified the man as Shailen.
He was then taken to Dumuria Upazila Health Complex where doctors declared him dead.
The body was sent to Khulna Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.
The Rab personnel recovered a 9mm pistol, a revolver and six rounds of bullets from the spot. Rab claims that a patrol car of Rab was also damaged during the “gunfight”.
Shailen, son of Kalipodo Biswas of Sholua village in the upazila, was accused in 28 cases, including for extortion and murder filed with Dumuria Police Station, said its Officer-in-Charge Md Moshiur Rahman.
The victim was the second-in-command of the NBCP until 2004. But after the killing of its ringleader Monoranjan Goshai Mrinal by his rivals at Bangaon in India's West Bengal, Shailen was made chief of the outlawed party, the OC added.
A few years back, Shailen fled to 24-Parganas in India where he was arrested six months ago for his involvement in criminal activities. A local court jailed him for two months, said Moshiur.
After he returned from India last month, Shailen started to reorganise his party, the police official said, adding that Shailen was reportedly killed by his rivals in Paschimbanga on January 30 this year. But the report could not be independently confirmed at the time.