NBR Freezes Accounts Linked to Suspect in Hadi Shooting Case
The National Board of Revenue’s Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) has frozen all bank accounts belonging to Faisal Karim Masud, also known as Daud Khan, the prime suspect in the attempted murder of Sharif Osman Hadi, spokesperson of Inqilab Mancha and a potential independent candidate for Dhaka-8. The accounts of his IT firm, Apple Soft IT Limited, have also been seized.
Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies have identified the motorcycle used in the attack and detained its owner, Abdul Hannan (43).
Confirming the arrest, Wing Commander M Z M Intekhhab Chowdhury, Director of the Legal and Media Wing of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), said Abdul Hannan was detained from the Mohammadpur area of the capital and handed over to Shahbagh Police Station.
RAB said the motorcycle involved in the shooting was identified through media reports, CCTV footage and other intelligence inputs. The registration number—Dhaka Metro-L-54-6375—was traced via the BRTA, which confirmed Abdul Hannan as the registered owner. While the owner has been detained, the motorcycle had not been recovered as of the time of filing this report.
On Sunday, December 14, a senior NBR official said that all personal and corporate accounts of Faisal Karim, including those of Apple Soft IT Limited, a web and mobile application development firm, have been frozen. According to sources, the company was established in 2010.
Faisal Karim is also the owner of YCU Technology Limited, which developed a computer game titled “Battle of ’71”, based on the Liberation War of Bangladesh and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The project was developed in 2016 with support from the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) and patronage from the government’s ICT Division.
Faisal Karim, alias Daud Khan, had been involved with the now-banned Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League, whose activities have since been prohibited. He was a member of the organisation’s central committee announced on May 11, 2019.
Following the announcement of the election schedule, Osman Hadi, convener of Inqilab Mancha and a potential Dhaka-8 candidate, was shot on Friday afternoon at Box Culvert Road in Purana Paltan. The assailant opened fire from a motorcycle and fled the scene on the same vehicle. Hadi is currently undergoing treatment at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka.
Investigators say several recent photographs show Faisal Karim with Osman Hadi at different locations, including the Inqilab Cultural Center, founded by Hadi. Due to facial similarities between Faisal Karim and the shooter seen in footage, he is being treated as a key suspect. The Home Affairs Adviser, Lieutenant General (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, has announced a Tk 5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the shooter.
According to multiple sources, Faisal Karim completed his undergraduate degree in Computer Science from a private university in Dhaka in 2013, followed by an MBA from another private institution. Since his name surfaced in the Hadi shooting case, photos of him with Bangladesh’s former two-time President Md Abdul Hamid, as well as leaders of the Dhaka city Awami League and Chhatra League, have circulated on social media. Images showing his recent participation in Hadi’s public outreach activities in Dhaka-8 and gatherings at the Inqilab Cultural Center in Banglamotor have also gone viral.
Many believe Faisal Karim had been tracking Osman Hadi for some time prior to the attack.
In the 2018 11th parliamentary elections, Chhatra League formed constituency-based coordination committees. Faisal Karim was a member of the coordination committee for Dhaka-12, where former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan was the Awami League candidate.
Following the July mass uprising, a Tk 1.7 million armed robbery took place on October 28 last year at an office on the fourth floor of British Columbia School in the Baitul Aman Housing Society area of Adabar. Faisal Karim was the prime accused in that case and was arrested by RAB on November 7 from Adabar. At the time, two foreign pistols, two magazines, five bullets, three mobile phones and cash were recovered from his possession.
He was granted bail by the High Court on February 16, and later, on August 12, the court extended his bail for another year. While out on bail, his alleged involvement in the shooting of Osman Hadi has now come to light.
DBTech/BBO/IK/OR
