Families of Habibur Rahman, alias Lengra Habib, 57, and his nephew Rana, 27, claimed, however, that the police killed the two in a premeditated attack over a longstanding conflict with a local lawmaker.

Keraniganj police arrested Habib, his son Bappi and his nephew Rana from the Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge at Postogola at 3:00pm on Friday, as the three were en route to a wedding ceremony at Hasnabad Community Centre.

"While arresting him (Habib), police slapped his wife, took away three mobile phones and gold ornaments weighing over 15 tolas that they were taking to present as a gift to the new couple," said a relative who witnessed the arrest.

According to Keraniganj police, Habib was the commander of a criminal gang and had 11 cases filed against him, most of them for murder. Rana, one of Habib's top cadres, had 15 cases filed against him for various charges.

Following an interrogation at the police station, police raided Habib's village of Doleshwar hoping to net his accomplices, and recovered several deadly weapons, police said.

Police then took Habib and Rana to Habib's fish enclosure in South Khetpar village at 2:15am, where unknown assailants opened fire on them, prompting them to retaliate, according to police.

Habib was shot three times while Rana sustained four bullet wounds in the head and chest. Both died on the spot.

After the operation, police left the bodies of the deceased criminals where they lay, recovering them only several hours later.

Police sources said Habib had earlier been shot in the right leg during a fight with former Awami League lawmaker Shamim Osman over establishing ownership of a sand trade at Fatulla in Narayanganj. Habib's family alleged he and his nephew were killed in a planned retaliation for the conflict, even though Habib has made efforts to settle it.

Habib's son Bappi was not released as of yesterday afternoon.

Police said they recovered a shotgun, a rifle, a pistol, six revolver chambers, 36 shotgun cartridges, four rounds of bullets, 12 shotgun shells and four machetes from the spot.