Their statement contradicts with Rab's statement that they were not arrested, rather killed during an 'encounter' when the elite force raided a club at Shyamoli in the city.

Family members of Alamgir and Faruq claimed they now know that Rab-2 arrested them on Sunday evening at Bashundhara City in the capital's Panthapath area.

Rab however claimed as a Rab team went to the spot to raid, the goons opened fire on them from the club to which Rab retaliated.

Rab in a statement on Tuesday claimed Faruq was an accused in five cases including three murder cases and Alamgir was accused of murder. Locals and the family members termed the cases false.

While investigating, owners and employees of shops near the Shyamoli club told The Daily Star that they had heard around eight gunshots on that night.

A witness to the incident on condition of anonymity said he heard gunshots and saw a number of Rab men on the spot but did not see any other people there.

He said Rab men woke up Sumon and Rubel, who were sleeping in a salvage shop, and forced Sumon to sign on a blank paper. Sumon told The Daily Star Rab men called him and two others and asked them to sign on a blank paper with their addresses.

Parul Begum, mother of Faruq, told The Daily Star an unidentified young man came to her Mohammadpur home around 7:45pm on Sunday and told her that Rab had arrested Faruq and another person, Alamgir, on the third floor of Bashundhara City.

Parul said she searched for her son at Rab-2 office in Moghbazar and two other Rab camps in Mohammadpur area and learnt that Rab arrested a few people on Sunday and they were confined to the Rab Shiite Mosque camp.

She said she could not go into the camp but she gave her phone number to a number of people at the Rab-2 office and its camps and requested them to inform her if they heard anything about Faruq.

Sohel Rana Palash, younger brother of Faruq, said his brother had been living in Comilla Cantonment for last four years. He was a driver to an army major.

Locals and Faruq's family members however said Mohammadpur police arrested him once in 2004 when he came to the capital to visit from Comilla.

His father, Mujibur Rahman, said the cases against Faruq had been filed intentionally to harass them as their family members are involved with the opposition party Awami League.

Meanwhile, many of the locals and family members of Alamgir claimed he did not have any criminal records.

Two years ago a man named Kuddus was killed in front of Alamgir's house at Bizli Maholla, Mohammadpur and Alamgir took him to the hospital, locals said.

A number of them now suspect Mohammadpur Police Station might have included Alamgir in that murder case.

While talking to the locals, The Daily Star learned many of them knew about the arrest of Faruq and Alamgir since Monday afternoon.

Director of legal and media wing, Rab Commander Masuq Hassan Ahmed denied the allegation of their arrest two days before they were killed.

He told The Daily Star if they were arrested two days before they died in an 'encounter', the media would have known about the arrests.