Rongdhanu Group Chairman Rafiqul Islam was involved in the murder of nine-year-old Osman Goni Shwadhin as the victim’s family had refused to sell their ancestral house on 37 decimal of land in Rupganj of Narayanganj.

Shwadhin’s father Shahinur Rahman Shahin made the allegation at a press briefing at the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka on Thursday (December 14).

He alleged that Rafiqul's younger brother Mizanur Rahman and his cohorts murdered his son after abduction from his village at Nawra.

During the press briefing, a group of people believed to be the followers of the Rongdhanu Group chairman, created chaos and for which the victim’s family could not complete their briefing.

On December 1, the minor boy went missing from the village, while his father filed a general diary with Rupganj police station.

On December 4, Shwadhin’s body was discovered from the Balu River at Idarkandi in Dhaka’s Khilgaon.

Shahin alleged that when they tried to announce the missing of his son through a loudspeaker at a local mosque, Rafiqul's cohorts opposed it.

When the body was found in the river and brought to the house, they also brought an imam to complete the funeral process quickly.

"Two months ago, Rafiqul sent his sister to our house. She offered us to sell our house to the Rongdhanu Group chairman, but my father Rezaul Karim refused to do it," Shahin said.

Later on, Rafiqul by his cohorts began to threaten the family and carry out attacks on them, their house and shop, he said.

"Rafiqul's younger brother Mizanur Rahman threatened of dire consequences just a week before the murder of my son Shwadhin."

Shahin sought the intervention of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to bring the masterminds and the killers to book.

BDST: 1526 HRS, DEC 14, 2023
MSK/SMS