The Rab also arrested Mijzn alias Tokai Mizan, a listed criminal and a prime accused of the killing of Buet student Sabekunnar Soni, at Arambagh of the city yesterday evening.

In Narayanganj, Jubo League activist Shafiqul Islam, 27, was killed in an encounter between a team of Rab-3 and an armed gang at Siddhirganj on the bank of river Shitalakshya in the early hours Monday, Rab sources said.

But Shafiq's family members alleged it was a 'cold-blooded' murder. They also accused the Rab of taking bribe for his release, an allegation that Rab denied.

Two members of outlawed Biplobi Communist Party (BCP-Huq) --Abdul Mazid, 45, and Rajkumar, 48 -- died in a gunfight between police and the outlaws at Madhabpur in Jhenidah in the early hours yesterday, reports our Kushtia correspondent.

After the shootout, police seized some arms and ammunition from the spot.

In Kushtia, a wanted leader of outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP-ML), Sirajul Islam alias 'Koshai Siraj,' 36, was killed in another shootout between police and a gang of PBCP men at Kazipur under Daulatpur upazila early yesterday.

Tokai Mizan
Rab arrested Tokai Mizan' at around 7:30pm yesterday at Arambagh of the capital. After his arrest, Rab men quizzed him in custody and took him out with them on raids in different areas, Rab sources said.

A team of Rab-2 has been hunting different spots of the city looking for his accomplices and to recover the arms and ammunition in their possession until filing of this report at 12:30am today.

Mizan is accused of around two dozen crimes including at least eight murders, the cases for which are filed with Ramna, Lalbagh and Dhanmondi police stations.

Mizan was once a street urchin living at Jahurul Hoque Hall of Dhaka University and thus acquired the nickname of Tokai (urchin).

He started his criminal career as an extortionist at Jahurul Hoque Hall, and was used to be commissioned by the student leaders of the university.

He shot a policeman in 1998 that earned him notoriety as a gangster. His killing of a leader of autorickshaw drivers, Ashik Goala, in Azimpur earned him the title 'Killer Mizan'.

After the killing of Soni in 2002, Mizan left the university area. But he was arrested later and imprisoned for months. Sources said he recently got out of the jail and was organising his group to run in full swing.

Narayanganj Incident
A team of Rab-3 raided the house of Shafiqul, a member of Shiddhirganj Jubo League convening committee, at Ailpara at around 4:00am Monday. Failing to arrest him, the team arrested his brother-in-law Liton and tenant Akhtar Hossain.

Later, the Rab members searched the nearby house of Shafiqul's uncle and arrested him.

Nasima Begum, mother of Shafiqul alleged the Rab men were accompanied by local BNP activists during the raid. Shafiqul tried to avoid arrest giving a false identity but BNP cadre Sumon exposed his identity to the Rab, she alleged.

Nasima said the Rab men then dragged Shafiqul out of the house and shot in his leg. They also asked Nasima and her two daughters not to disclose anything about the incident and the names of the BNP men who helped Rab.

The Rab men then took the Jubo League activist to Rab-3 office at Adamjee. The family members of Shafiqul alleged they heard huge gunshots from the Rab office. The Rab members did not let them meet the arrestee, they said.

The body of Shafiqul was found yesterday at Siddhirganj on the bank of Shitalakkya.

Officials of Rab-3 said they arrested 12 accomplices of notorious 'Mati Bahini' including Shafiqul from Ailpara in the early hours Monday. Following his statement the Rab raided a cement factory in the early hours yesterday and seized some arms and ammunition.

During the arms seizure operations, the Rab officials said, the accomplices of the arrestees attacked the Rab team from a boat in the Shitalakkya river that triggered a gunfight between them. Shafiqul received bullets while escaping from the custody and died on the spot. The attackers managed to flee with the boat.

The victim's mother further alleged that she gave Tk one lakh to one Rab source for his release. Shafiqul was killed by Rab on the instruction of the BNP leaders, she said.

Rab-3 Commanding Officer Lt Col Gulzar denied the allegations and told The Daily Star last night that there is no room for bribing the Rab. “We do not consider the political identity of the criminals…We follow our own intelligence sources,” he said.

Jhenidah incident
Two alleged BCP cadres, Mazid and Rajkumar, were arrested by a team of Jhenidah police at Paharkata village in Sadar upazila Monday night, the police said.

The team came under attack by the outlawed men at around 12:45am while returning to the police station after raiding a couple of spots for arms seizure.

Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Sadar Police Station said the BCP men opened fire on the police van when it reached Madhabpur. The law-enforcers returned fire and the gunfight continued for five hours. At least 150 rounds of gunshots were exchanged.

Rajkumar and Mazid received bullets while trying to escape from the van and died on the spot at around 4:30am. Their accomplices fled, the police said.

Sub-Inspector (SI) Fazlur Rahman and Constable Mafizul Islam were also injured during the shootout. They were admitted to Jhenidah Sadar Hospital.

The police recovered four pipe-guns, one shutter-gun, one foreign-made revolver, ammunition and three lethal weapons from the spot.

Kushtia incident
The police nabbed Sirajul Islam, a regional leader of the outlawed PBCP, from a house at Badda in the capital on Friday night. He was then sent to Kushtia for quizzing.

Following his confessional statement, the police raided Kazipur village to seize firearms at about 4.30:am yesterday. When the police team reached the village, the PBCP cadres opened fire on police triggering a gunfight.

Both sides traded around 100 shots rounds during the hour-long shootout. Siraj tried to escape during the encounter and died on the spot receiving bullets, the police said.

Police recovered one foreign-made revolver, one rifle and four rounds of bullets from the spot and sent the body to Kushtia General Hospital for autopsy.

Siraj, who allegedly led a triple murder incident at Kazipara on October 22, was accused in 17 cases including nine murder cases.