A top-listed criminal was shot dead in broad daylight in Dhaka's Sutrapur area this morning, police said.

The deceased was identified as Tarik Saif Mamun, 55.

Fazlul Haque, assistant commissioner of Kotwali Zone Police, confirmed the incident to The Daily Star.

Talking to The Daily Star, Mallic Ahsan Uddin Sami, deputy commissioner of Lalbagh Division Police, said Mamun was a top-listed criminal. "We are trying to arrest the killers," he said.

Unidentified assailants shot Mamun in the chest near Dhaka National Medical College Hospital, leaving him critically injured.

Mohibullah, ward master of Dhaka National Medical College Hospital, said that around 11:00am a shooting incident occurred in front of the hospital. Hearing the gunfire, staff members rushed to the main gate and saw the man lying on the street, bleeding. They immediately rescued him and brought him to the hospital. As his condition deteriorated, he was quickly taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), where doctors later declared him dead around 11:45am.

According to security guard Md Talha of a nearby building, "Two men arrived at the scene on a rickshaw. One of them fired the first shot, hitting the victim in the leg. After the victim fell to the ground, they fired three to four more rounds before fleeing the scene."

An acquaintance of the deceased, Faizul Haque Opu, said he received a call from the victim's phone in the morning informing him about the incident. He then came to DMCH from Kakrail and identified the body.

According to the victim's national identity card, Mamun hailed from Lakshmipur Sadar upazila.

Police said he narrowly escaped an attack in 2023.

Earlier in September 2023, criminals fired at and stabbed Mamun, a suspect in the film actor Sohel Chowdhury murder case, in Tejgaon Industrial Area.

During the attack, stray bullets hit Bhuban Chandra Shil, 55, a lawyer, in the head when he was passing through the area on a motorbike. He later succumbed to his injuries.

Three months before the attack, Mamun was released on bail after spending 26 years in prison

Sources said Mamun was returning to his Tollabagh home from a bar in Moghbazar when the car he was travelling in reached the BG Press area, where seven to eight criminals on motorbikes intercepted the vehicle on September 19, 2023.

Mamun got out of the vehicle amid the hail of bullets and ran, but the criminals chased him down and stabbed him in the neck and back.

Police officials said the attackers are loyal to top-listed criminal Sanjidul Hassan Emon, who is also an accused in the Sohel Chowdhury murder case.

Mamun was once Emon's partner in crime, they added, but the two had a falling out after Mamun got out of prison.

While talking to media at the hospital today, the victim's wife, Dipa, said Mamun owned a garment business in Mirpur and the couple were living in Aftabnagar with their two daughters.

"After two days, Mamun left home around 9:00am today to attend a court hearing at the Judge Court. Shortly afterward, I received a phone call informing me of his death," she said.

"I don't know who killed my husband," she added. "But no one other than Emon could have done this. A few days ago, Emon had hired people to attack Mamun."