Mahbub Rashid, 30, was arrested at Bahaddarhat in Chittagong city when he was starting for his village home at East Palwanpara in East Dongra union under Banshkhali upazila.

Acting on a tip off, a team of Panchlaish police nabbed Mahbub and handed him over to district police.

Mahbub's arrest raised to four the number of accused held for the gruesome killings. The others are Abdul Karim, Mokthar Ahmad and Nasiruddin Toto alias Totaiya.

They named Mahbub as the 'main culprit,' police said.

The main accused yesterday gave some conflicting accounts of the Banshkhali incident to journalists amid interruption by police officials.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) of District Special Branch (DSB) Abdul Khaleque intervened at least thrice as Mahbub was referring to a BNP leader as one of the masterminds behind the carnage. Some other police officials also intervened as journalists asked him some specific questions.

Mahbub first said a gang of 12 set fire to the house of Tejendra Lal Shil and his family at village Sadhanpara in Banshkhali. He claimed he tried to extinguish the fire and to dissuade others from committing the arson.

Then he said, "Of the 12, six including Mokhtar, Dola Meah, Rubel, Akbar, Aminul Haq and me entered the house and six others were on guard outside. As the family members threw acid on us, Rubel ordered us to set the house afire."

He went on, "We followed his orders, shut all the doors and windows and Rubel set fire to the house."

"I was scheduled to leave for Saudi Arabia on March 13," he added.

At one stage, Mahbub named Mokhtar as leader of the gang and again said Dola Meah led the attackers.

Replying to a query, Mahbub quoted Mokhtar as saying a local BNP leader and union parishad chairman, who is nephew of a state minister, hired them to do an important job but they did not know what the job was.

At this stage, ASP (DSB) Abdul Khaleque intervened again and asked him not to give 'irrelevant' statements before journalists.