Magura district police have unravelled the mystery surrounding the murder of Juba Dal leader Shaker Hossain, revealing that he was shot dead by hitmen hired for 20 lakh taka following a dispute over the division of stolen gold bars. The deadly internal rift stemmed from an armed robbery on a Dhaka-bound passenger bus, during which a gang seized a massive consignment of gold. Law enforcement authorities confirmed the details during an official press briefing at the Magura Police Lines shed room on Wednesday afternoon, presided over by Senior Superintendent of Police Molla Azad Hossain.
According to police findings, the sequence of events began on 6 October when an inter-district Golden Line Paribahan bus was intercepted at Ramnagar in Magura. A coordinated gang of 12 to 15 individuals, pretending to be law enforcement personnel, boarded the vehicle and targeted a passenger identified as Mojibar Rahman, a gold trader hailing from Manikganj. The perpetrators forcibly seized 14 gold bars weighing approximately 150 vhori (around 1.75 kilograms). Police investigations established that key figures involved in executing the highway robbery included Maruf Hossain, former convenor of the Paura Sechhasebak Dal, and Shaker Hossain, joint secretary of the Paura Juba Dal.
Following the successful heist, an intense conflict erupted between Maruf Hossain and Shaker Hossain regarding the distribution of the ill-gotten gold. As hostilities escalated, Maruf plotted to eliminate his associate. On the early morning of 21 October, Maruf arranged a contract killing through Golam Zahid, former convenor of the Magura District Sechhasebak Dal, securing hired assassins for a fee of 20 lakh taka to shoot Shaker dead.
Police quickly registered two separate cases at Magura Police Station—one covering the highway robbery and the other addressing the premeditated murder. A dedicated investigative team has so far detained 11 suspects connected to the crimes.
Those arrested in connection with the murder case include principal plotter Maruf Hossain, intermediary Golam Zahid, Roni Sikdar, Shamima Tabassum, Animesh Majumder, and Bashir Ali. Meanwhile, five individuals have been detained under the gold robbery case: Jewel Hossain, Toukir Ahmed, Farid Mondal, along with Milton from the Pashu Hospital Para area and his wife, Marufa Khatun.
During extensive drives across the region, police seized 61 vhori and 6 ana of recovered gold, along with two motorcycles and a private vehicle utilized during the operations. Superintendent Molla Azad Hossain assured the public that operations remain ongoing to track down and apprehend the remaining absconding accomplices and the hitmen directly involved in the shooting.
