Of the three, Abdul Kuddus, son of Abdus Samad of Kathalbaria under Bagmara upazila, is the number one defendant in Yasin murder case. The other two are Zakir Hossain of Bagmara and Hafizur Rahman of Gaibandha. They two are suspected by a senior police official of Rajshahi to be involved with Yasin's killing.

Maria union AL Publicity Secretary Yasin Ali Mridha was tortured to death Wednesday morning.

A Rajshahi police official quoting witnesses said Kuddus along with other masked men abducted Yasin from his cousin's house and beat him to death at a madrasa in Kudapara.

Sources said Ishwardi police picked up the three on suspicion from a hotel named Snigdha Boarding at 1:20am Thursday. They checked in there at 11pm Wednesday, 11 hours after Yasin was slain.

The militants were released from the police station at around 2pm Thursday, reportedly after Pabna district BNP General Secretary Habibur Rahman Tota and local Jamaat-e Islami leader Amzad Hossain sat in a meeting with Ishwardi police officials. The meeting was held at a police officer's house, sources said.

Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Ishwardi Police Station Azimuddin said they had handed the arrestees over to the custody of Tota, as there was no specific allegations against them.

Tota claimed the three belong to his party, BNP. Talking to daily Prothom Alo, he said he had acted as instructed by a deputy minister.

Pabna Superintendent of Police (SP) Khurshid Hossain told The Daily Star the OC had the judicial authority to take such a decision.

Rajshahi SP Masud Mia, on the other hand, said Yasin was a member of outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party and was wanted by the law enforcers in connection with two murders. He was not accused in any criminal case, but some arrested outlawed operatives informed police of his involvement in the killings, the SP added.

Replying to a query on safety of Rashid, Soleman and Mithu who are now the next targets of JMJB according to their hit list, SP Masud said they too had been searching for Rashid and the other two, but to no avail.

Locals, however, said the three men still stay at their homes, as was Yasin before being killed by the JMJB.

Meanwhile, forensic experts of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital said the autopsy suggests Yasin died of 'excessive torture'. "His body bore nearly two dozen strokes of lethal weapons and many of his bones were badly fractured," said one of them.