Dhaka: The High Court on Tuesday ordered arrest of killers of tailor Biswajit Das, who was chopped to death in old Dhaka during the opposition enforced nationwide road blockade programme on Sunday.

On Tuesday Home Minister MK Alamgir promised that the government would punish the killers of Biswajit whoever they might be.

"Arrest in 24 hours the five identified killers (who were seen in television footages)," said a High Court bench comprising Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury and Justice Farid Ahmed upon a petition filed by the editor of a weekly Nazim Ahmed seeking the court directives for their arrest.

The bench also ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to ensure a strict vigil at airports and land ports alongside the borders so that the criminals could be prevented from leaving the country.

The petitioner also prayed to the court to declare "illegal" the police's inaction in saving Biswajit's life and named several youths as his murderers saying they all belonged to the ruling Awami League’s student front Bangladesh Chhatra League.

The High Court order came hours after Home Minister Dr Mohiuddin Khan Alamagir said police had already arrested eight suspected killers but insisted they were not associated with the politics of Awami League or Bangladesh Chhatra League.

A senior official of the police's detective branch, however, said they identified six persons, including four students for the gruesome murder of the young tailor who was seen lying on a pool of blood on the street being chopped and beaten to death.

"But their political identity is not clear right now," said the official preferring anonymity.

Investigation officer (IO) and also sub-inspector of Sutrapur police station Mahbubul Alam earlier said that police launched an investigation into the killing after an officer of the same police station lodged a case being the complainant as none of his relatives complained to the police.

"We are trying to find out the culprits watching video footage of different televisions news and reports of different newspapers and online media," the IO added.

The activists chased Biswajit to the first floor of a two-storey market apparently suspecting him as pro-opposition rival activist as he took refuge to evade clashes on his way to his own tailoring shop at Shakhari Bazar.

Despite his serious injuries the killers dragged him downstairs and mercilessly beat him with iron sticks and left him on a pool of blood while a rickshaw puller later brought him to Mitford Hospital where the doctors declared him dead saying he died due to profuse bleeding.

Ends/AMA/11/12/12