Case Filed Against 29 Over RAB Officer’s Murder in Jungle Salimpur

A case has been filed against 29 individuals, including local leader Md. Yasin as the primary accused, following the brutal murder of a RAB-7 officer in the Jungle Salimpur area of Sitakunda. Three suspects have been arrested so far.

The case, which also includes 150 to 200 unidentified suspects, was filed by a Deputy Assistant Director of RAB-7 at Sitakunda Police Station on Thursday morning. The arrested individuals have been identified as Zahid, Yunus, and Arif.

On Monday afternoon (January 19), a team from RAB-7's Patenga office conducted a raid in Jungle Salimpur based on intelligence that Yasin—the head of a local land-grabbing group—was attending the inauguration of a local office.

During the operation, the team was ambushed by a large mob mobilized via loudspeaker announcements. The attackers detained four RAB members and their informant, Mona, before snatching their weapons and beating them severely.

Md. Motaleb Hossain Bhuiyan, a Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) of RAB-7 and a Naib Subedar of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on deputation. He was declared dead upon arrival at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH).

Three other RAB personnel and the informant, Mona, remain in critical condition at CMH.

The 3,100-acre Jungle Salimpur area has long been a haven for armed groups involved in illegal hill occupation, land grabbing, and plot trading. Valued at thousands of crores of taka, the government khas land has been a flashpoint for violent turf wars, with criminal gangs frequently resisting law enforcement and administrative entry.