Chandpur Correspondent

Akash Mondol alias Irfan killed the vessel master of MV Al-Bakhera over anger at bad behaviour and months of unpaid wages in the ship, then went on to kill his six other colleagues for fear of being caught, RAB has said.

Irfan first sedated the rest of the nine-member crew by mixing meals with sleeping pills he bought from a Pabna store, Lieutenant Colonel Munim Ferdous, director of RAB’s media wing, told reporters at a media briefing held RAB-11 office in Cumilla city on Wednesday noon.

After hacking eight heavily sedated crew members severely with a Chinese axe to ensure their death, Irfan drove the cargo vessel to Chandpur’s Haimchar area and there boarded a trawler to flee the crime scene.

Luckily, one Jewel Rana, 26, survived the injuries but is undergoing treatment with critical injuries.

RAB arrested Irfan from Bagerhat’s Chitalmari upazila on Wednesday midnight. His ancestral home is in Fakirhat upazila of the same district.

The RAB official said they recovered a hand glove, two empty strips of sleeping pills, five mobile phones of the deceased, a blood-stained jeans pant from the procession of Akash Mondal alias Ifran.

RAB-11 Deputy Commander Major Sakib Hossain told reporters that the vessel’s master Kibria didn’t pay wages to Irfan for the past eight months and used to misbehave with him, causing the accused to get increasingly angry.

The vessel’s owner Mahabub Morshed filed a murder case accusing some unidentified people with the relevant police station, said Haimchar police station’s officer-in-charge Md Mohiuddin Suman on Wednesday.

On Monday afternoon, the Coast Guard and River Police recovered five bodies and rescued three injured victims from the vessel. Later, two of the injured succumbed to their injuries at the hospital.

The bodies were handed over to families after completing legal procedures on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Industries on Tuesday formed a four member probe body headed by an additional secretary and asked to submit a report within five working days.

Family members of the victims claimed that the killings were planned and demanded justice. They made the demand while receiving the bodies from Chandpur Sadar Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

The deceased were Golam Kibria ,55, captain of the vessel hailinh from Faridpur, his nephew Sheikh Sabuj,35, a sailor, Aminul Munshi, 40, helmsman from Narail district, Majedul,16, a sailor from Magura Sajibul Islam ,26, sailor from Magura, Salahuddin,40, an engineer from Narail and Kazi Rana 24, its cook from Munshiganj.