The first death in custody of the elite anticrime Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) was of Debashish, an alleged associate of top-notch criminal Pichchi Hannan, arrested in Savar on June 26. He died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) a few hours after his arrest.

The body of another associate of Hannan, Nitol, was found in Tejgaon the next day.

Hannan himself was killed, the force claimed, in crossfire between Rab and his henchmen at Diakhali in Savar on August 6.

Shajahan Ali, 28, a shopkeeper at Rifles Square, died on July 9 in the DMCH a few days after his arrest at Jigatala in the capital. Three days later, Mohammad Ali, 65, a deed-writer, was allegedly shot dead in his Rayerbazar house by Rab.

Minar and Jumman of Charkuthipara in Kushtia died on July 10 and 19 at a hospital after the Rab arrested them with firearms.

Sumon Ahmed Majumder, a leader of Juba League's Tongi chapter and prime witness to the killing of Awami League legislator Ahsanullah Master, died at a Tongi hospital on July 16 allegedly from Rab torture during interrogation.

Tofazzal Hossain, an old man from Charkuthipara in Kushtia, reportedly died from drowning in a river while he was trying to get away from a Rab team on July 21.

Anwar Hossain alias Kankata Ranju, 32, a local leader of Kushtia BNP, died in Rab custody on July 24.

Imam Sarder alias Hasan Imam, 32, an operative of an outlawed party and one of the four charged with killing Khulna City Awami League President Manzurul Imam, was killed in a gunfight with Rab and police near Prasadpur Bridge in Rampal of Bagerhat on August 28.

Sheikh Asaduzzaman Litu, the prime accused of the killing of Janakantha Correspondent Shamsur Rahman Kebol, was killed allegedly while trying to flee from Rab custody in Khulna on August 30.

A five-year-old girl, Mayesha, and an alleged arms peddler were killed in a shootout at Sabujbagh in Dhaka on September 2.

Rab men gunned down Mollah Shamim, an underworld leader, when his operatives allegedly tried to snatch him free from them at Mohakhali, Dhaka, on September 6.

Rab-2 members gunned down Billal Hossain, 28, near his Sher-e-Bangla Road House in Rayerbazar, Dhaka, on September 9 after he allegedly shot at them in a brash bid to escape.

On September 15 Rab-2 picked up BNP activist Mohammad Zinnah from a Dhaka hospital and a couple of hours later sent his body to the DMCH.

Raised through a government order on March 1, the Rab went into formal operations from June 21 and is working across the country in seven administrative units.