The four people who had been detained by police for "questioning" in connection with Saturday's murder of Japanese national Hoshi Kunio did not return home as of last night.

They have not been produced before any court either. Normally, police are legally bound to produce suspects before court within 24 hours of arrest. 

Police officials on Saturday said none of them were suspects in the killing of Kunio, 66, in Rangpur.

The four are Monnaf Hossain, the rickshaw puller who was carrying Kunio when he was attacked; Zakaria Bala, owner of the house where Kunio lived; Murad Hossain, son of Khoka Mia in front of whose house the murder took place; and Humayun Kabir Hira, a friend of Kunio who owns a fishery near the grass field that Kunio owned.   

Rezaul Karim, officer-in-charge of Kaunia Police Station, said as the four were not accused or suspects in the case, police could question them as long as they required, without producing them before a court.

He, however, would not comment if interrogators got any vital information by quizzing them.

Asked about the investigation, he said they collected some evidence but were yet to find any clue to the murder.

Meanwhile, law enforcers are tightlipped about the alleged arrest of two BNP men on Saturday afternoon, reportedly in connection with the murder, which came only five days after Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella was murdered in the capital's Gulshan. 

The two are Anisur Rahman Lacku, an assistant organising secretary of pro-BNP youth body Jubo Dal's Rangpur unit, and Rashed-un-Nabi Khan Biplob, a member of Rangpur BNP.

Family members alleged they were missing since plainclothes law enforcers picked them up. But top officials of police and Rab claimed they knew nothing about their arrests.    

Various media reported yesterday that the two were detained after the prime minister's suggestion that the BNP-Jamaat was behind the murders of both the foreign nationals "to destabilise the country".

Shirin Akter Diba, Biplob's wife, alleged her husband was picked by law enforcers who said they were taking him for "questioning over some matters".

Six to seven men went to Biplob's home at Guptapara on three motorbikes. Two of them stormed Biplob's bedroom and asked him to go with them.

Before he was taken away, Biplob identified one of the "law enforcers" as an assistant sub-inspector of Rangpur Kotwali Police Station, she added.

Lacku's wife Rezwana Islam Luna alleged four to five men identifying themselves as Rab members picked up her husband from their home in the city's Nurpur area around 2:30pm.      

"It's ridiculous … We never knew the man [Kunio] until we saw the news on TV," said Luna.

Maj Abu Farhan, acting commanding officer of Rab-13, denied that they arrested Lacku.