David was an accused in no fewer than 31 cases, including seven for murder. He was one of the two criminals of the district whose names topped the Rab list of criminals, sources said.

A Rab team started following David from Jatrabari when he started for the city in a luxury jeep (Dhaka Metro Gha-11-1691) at about 8:00pm.

On information, 20 other Rab men took position near Malibagh Community Centre to pin him down.

Seeing the Rab men blocking the road at around 9:00pm, David took a U-turn in front of the community centre and tried to speed away.

"But he hardly drove three yards before he saw the Rab vehicle in front of his jeep and got down from his vehicle to run away," said Commanding Officer of Rab-3 Lt. Col. Gulzar Uddin Ahmed.

"He could run no more than five yards when he found himself encircled by Rab men. He shot at our men thrice from a pistol, prompting them to retaliate," he said.

David received two bullets in the chest and abdomen and died on the spot.

Rab seized the German-made pistol and seven bullets. Rab made the area out of bounds to traffic and pedestrians until 11:30pm.

Locals said they found a man and a woman getting down from David's jeep and melting into the shanty beside the railway tracks at Malibagh.

Rab men took his body to Dhaka Medical College Hospital at 11:40pm where doctors confirmed his death.

Our Narayanganj correspondent said people of the industrial district heaved a sigh of relief hearing the news of David's death. David was an underworld don and reigned supreme in half of the district.

Police and Rab members kept his house at Milonpara in Narayanganj under siege.

Rab sources said they held a meeting in Narayanganj on November 11 and decided to arrest David.

Police said David came out of jail on bail in a murder case a few months ago.

RISE AND FALL

Local sources say Mominullah Liton alias David, who was well known as a cricket player, was fondly called David after dashing Australian cricketer David Boon.

Fifth on the police watch-list of noted Narayanganj terrors, David hogged the headlines as a criminal when two people were killed in a clash between locals of Chasara and Mishonpara over establishing supremacy in 1988. David led Mishonpara in the bloody attack that left Kamal Ahmed and Abul Kalam killed.

He then joined the then ruling Jatiya Party and became a top criminal of the district. He started carrying out criminal activities under the patronisation of then Jatiya Party lawmaker Nasim Osman, who had a dreaded gang of criminals.

When the BNP came to power in 1990, David joined it, stepped up his criminal activities and pitted himself against brother of Nasim Osman and Awami League (AL) leader Shamim Osman.

During his meteoric rise from a local thug to a millionaire in a short span of time, he acquired vast wealth mainly by collecting illegal tolls from transport workers and ransom from several abductions of businessmen and Jhut (garments by-products) traders.

When the AL assumed office in 1996, David went into hiding, but was arrested 12 times at different hideouts around the country and stood accused in 31 cases.

After losing his father halfway into the AL rule, AL cadres took control of his area in North Narayanganj and declared him and his three brothers unwanted.

As soon as the BNP-led alliance came back to office in 2001, David unleashed a reign of terror under the patronisation of a minister and then a BNP lawmaker and drove Shamim Osman from the area.

He deployed his three brothers Tapan, Jewel and Roman to raise illegal tolls from local transport terminals, hospitals and garments factories.

He was said to have never hesitated to kill anyone if they refused to pay him tolls.