The bullet-ridden bodies of three traders of garment factory leftovers were found in Rupganj yesterday, a day after they were allegedly picked up by men claiming to be detectives.

Police recovered the bodies around 8:00am from a culvert in Purbachal area after locals informed them, Maniruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Rupganj Police Station, said.

Nur Hossain Babu, 30, his brother-in-law Shimul Azad, 25, and their associate Sohag Bhuiyan, 35, traded garment factories' leftover fabrics in Mugda area of the capital.

Family members said the three men were coming to their homes in Dhaka from Jhenidah by a bus of Purbasha Paribahan on Thursday when they last contacted them. 

Staffers of the bus told the family members that around 15 to 20 men in vests emblazoned with the letters DB picked them up from the bus which was near Paturia Ferry Ghat of Manikganj at the time.

The men left in two microbuses, brothers of the three dead men told The Daily Star, quoting the staffers of the bus.

Officers of the detective branch of police during raids often wear vests resembling the ones worn by the men who picked the trio.

OC Maniruzzaman said officers who recovered the bodies found 65 yaba pills in Shimul's pocket.

There were multiple bullets in the head and chest of each of the bodies, he said.

Police contacted the family members who identified the bodies at Narayanganj General Hospital morgue.

Babu's brother Abdus Samad said Babu told his wife on Tuesday that the three of them were going to Shimul's village home in Jhenidah. They stayed there for a day and were supposed to return.

“But on early Thursday, a supervisor of a bus called his wife and said that around 15 to 20 men in DB jacket picked them up….,” Samad told this correspondent.

Shimul's brother Shah Alam and Sohag's brother Shaon said they heard the same account from the bus  staffers.

When the families failed to contact the three men, they went to the DB office in the capital's Minto road where officers said they didn't know anything about the matter, Shah Alam said.

Shaon said, “My brother didn't commit any crime. It was a planned murder. There was no case against him. We want justice.”

He added that the families would file a case.

Monirul Islam, additional superintendent of police (admin) in Narayanganj, said there was no DB operation in Narayanganj at the time of the incident.

“We just recovered the bodies. If the family members complaint, we would record a case,” he said.

Family members took the bodies after autopsy.

BODY OF MURDER ACCUSED FOUND

Bullet-ridden body a murder suspect was found in Satkhali area of Magura-Jessore highway on Thursday night, police said.

Shaheen alias Pagla Shaheen, 45, was accused of killing Alamgir Hossain, who was the general secretary of Jessore Sadar Juba League, reports our Benapole correspondent.

Family members said Shaheen had been missing for several days.