A home ministry assigned investigator questioned Limon Hossain, maimed in a Rab shootout, and his father at a city hospital yesterday.
Additional Divisional Commissioner of Barisal Mohammad Shawkat Akbar quizzed the teenager and his father Tofazzal Hossain thoroughly for over two hours from 11:15am at a special cabin of National Institute of Trauma and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (Nitor).
Limon, 16, has been undergoing treatment at the hospital after his release on bail on May 9 from a prison ward at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in Barisal.His left leg had to be amputated after a Rapid Action Battalion team shot him to injury in Jhalakathi on March 23.
Yesterday, ADC Akbar allowed the media in the room where he asked Limon a wide range of questions about the March 23 incident, his childhood and education.
He threw a volley of leading questions minutely examining the alibi of Limon and parents.
As the questioning continued, tears started rolling down the cheeks of Limon. His mother Henoara Begum, touched by her son's ordeal, also failed to hold her tears.
Akbar also asked details about how much the poor family had received from visitors and well-wishers and whether or not any editor had ever visited the maimed boy.
The interrogator also wanted to know who gave them the money and how much, and who helped the family open bank accounts.
Limon's father told the ADC that people from all walks of life helped them according to their ability.
The interrogator eagerly noted down when the father told him that BH Haroon, a local Awami League lawmaker, was so moved that he gave the family Tk 20,000 and promised to help Limon complete his education.
Akbar also took notes when Limon's father told him that a top Rab official gave the family Tk 5,000 for his son's treatment.
Dr Kazi Enamul Kabir, a doctor on duty, recorded Limon's statement and read it out to the boy who later signed it.
After Limon, the ADC quizzed the father for one hour till 1:45pm.
The home ministry had asked Shawkat Akbar to submit a report within 15 working days after the probe began on April 29.
The ministry has given him additional seven days, from May 23 to 29, to complete the probe, the ADC told The Daily Star after completing the questioning.
Asked whether it was necessary to question Limon as the home minister backed the statement that Limon has criminal link, the ADC replied he received no instruction from the ministry or any other quarter regarding how to conduct the probe.
“I have nearly completed the probe and I shall submit my findings to the home ministry,” said Akbar.
Limon was transferred to Nitor after being released from the Jhalakathi jail on a six-month bail granted by the High Court. The HC order came following a petition of a rights body claiming his innocence.
On Monday, the Rab claimed that Limon and his family had links with a local criminal gang.
This statement was based on reports of four probe committees ordered by Rab and police after the March 23 incident, said Rab officials.
The reports found that Limon was a member of Morshed Bahini, a local gang of criminals, and he suffered the bullet wound in an encounter between the miscreants and Rab personnel.
The Rab filed two cases against Limon accusing him of possessing illegal firearms, and of obstructing law enforcers from carrying out their duties and attempted murder.
Limon's mother also filed a case against the Rab personnel who went to her village to hunt the Morshed gang.
Also on Thursday, serving yet another hard blow to the maimed teenager, Prime Minister's Defence Adviser Maj Gen (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique at a news conference claimed both Limon and his father are members of a criminal gang.
Later on Sunday, Home Minister Sahara Khatun backed Tarique by saying his remark on Limon must be a government statement.
On April 11, Rab Director General Mokhlesur Rahman, however, said Limon was not a “notorious criminal”.
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