Police said criminal Sirajul Haq Ripon, alias Takku Ripon, 30, had four cases filed against him, including two for the killings of Sergeant Farhad of the Motijheel Police Station and constable Nur Jahid of the Kotwali Police Station.

Rab men arrested Ripon, a resident of Nasiruddin Sarder Lane in Sutrapur, from a club in Dholaikhal at 9:00am Sunday.

They took him to the Himel Hotel at the Goalghata intersection at 3:15am yesterday 'to search for firearms and to arrest his associates'.

According to law enforcers, Ripon's associates opened fire on the Rab members as soon as they reached the area, prompting them to retaliate. Ripon received four bullets in the chest during the incident and died on the spot. No Rab men, however, were reported to have been hurt in the incident.

The law enforcers claimed to have recovered a revolver and five bullets from the spot. Sutrapur police took Ripon's body to Dhaka Medical College Hospital at 8:00am yesterday.

In Jhenidah, detectives raided a bridge in Bhaina village of Horinakundu upazila at around 8:00pm Sunday, following information that several JSD Gono Bahini cadres were holding a meeting there, reported our Magura correspondent.

The Gono Bahini cadres opened fire on the law enforces, according to police.

As police fired back, regional leader of the party Moinuddin Mantu, alias Kanak, 50, received bullets in the line of fire and died on the spot. The others managed to escape after the half-an-hour gunfight, said police.

DB Sub-Inspector Tansen, constables Islamul and Al Amin were wounded, police claimed, adding that they seized a country-made gun and four bullets from the spot.

The death of Mainuddin, an accused in 13 criminal cases including 12 for murder, sent the number of deaths in such incidents in Jhenidah district to 25 since November of last year.