Apart from the arrest of one housewife Samina Haq Mita, reported lover of Iqbal, and her brother in-law Abu Hossain Babla, the police have failed to make any remarkable headway in the case.

Police recovered the body of 32-year-old Maulana Iqbal from KB Abdur Sattar Road adjacent to the Goods Hill residence of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, parliamentary affairs advisor to the prime minister, at around 11:45pm on October 15.

IOJ leaders and family members of slain Iqbal said it is 'a cool-blooded political murder' and blamed the Jamaat-BNP goons for the killing and demanded fair trial and arrest of the real killers.

They said the slain leader had strife over ownership of a private clinic with Jamaat leader Abdur Rahim, one of the directors of Amanat Hospital Pvt Ltd, and urged police to take the issue into consideration during the investigations.

Later, police detained Rahim but set him free within hours for reasons unknown. Police now play 'mysterious role' and dilly-dally the case.

Kotwali Police of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) detained Mita from her Chatteshwari residence as a suspect of the murder. They also detained her brother-in-law Babla and took them remand twice to unearth information about the murder.

Mita, while in remand, admitted her close relation with Maulana Iqbal but denied her involvement with the murder and told police that Rahim and Iqbal had feud over business issues.

At this stage, police suddenly dropped the issue of 'political or business feud' and concentrated on 'much-hyped' extra-marital affairs with Mita to dig out motive behind the killing.

Even, the CMP Commissioner Mazedul Haq while talking to a group of journalists on October 20 dismissed outright political link to the murder. His comment at the midst of investigation drew widespread flak from different quarters.

Meanwhile, Mita's family at a press conference on October 22 alleged police torture and harassment on them. They sought Prime Minister and Home Minister's intervention in this regard. The family members also alleged that neither their lawyer nor any of them had been allowed to meet Mita in the police custody.

Following the press conference, police shown Mita and Babla arrested after implicating them in the murder case and sent them to jail.

Mita's family blamed the then assistant commissioner (Kotwali zone) Shah Mizan Shafiur Rahman for attempting to divert the course of the investigation towards 'wrong' direction to 'save Jamaat goons' from the murder charges.

IOJ chief Mufti Fazlul Haq Amini at a rally here on October 26 questioned the 'impartiality' of AC Shah Mizan and demanded his withdrawal from Kotwali zone and the home ministry transferred Shah Mizan and two other assistant commissioners immediately.

After this move, police changed its investigation strategy and now they are examining all issues ranging from political to business or others to unearth clues into the murder. The investigation, however, now is progressing at snail's pace.

Investigation Officer (IO) Sub-inspector Md Ahsan said we will consider and examine all aspects, issues and information available to reach the ultimate destination of the case. He denied of slow pace in the investigation saying it's a complicated case and it would take few more weeks.