Police yesterday claimed that a Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leader living in a European country hired people to kill manpower businessman Siddik Hossen Munshi in his Banani office on November 14.

Six killers planned it seven days before the murder after the Chhatra Dal leader communicated with gang leader Helal Uddin, said Monirul Islam, chief of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit, while briefing journalists on his arrest.

Police arrested Helal, 38, who stands accused in at least two murder cases, at the capital's Gulshan on Tuesday night.

At the briefing in DMP media centre, Monirul declined to name the Chhatra Dal leader, but said he was wanted in a number of arson cases filed between 2013 and 2015.

Police said the leader is now living in Sweden.

The murder was not over illegal toll collection. The motive is still unclear as it was a “contract killing”. Police will further interrogate Helal to know about the motive, Monirul added.

As part of the plan, four of the killers, as seen in the CCTV footage, entered the office of Munshi Overseas on November 14 and shot dead its owner Siddik and injured three employees, the CTTC chief said.

Helal, who was once a Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leader, and one of his accomplices from outside coordinated the killing mission, he added.

All the six killers carried firearms on that day and police claimed to have recovered five of those from Helal's possession during his arrest.

Police said five of the killers handed over the firearms to Helal before going into hiding.

Law enforcers could not arrest any of the four killers seen in the CCTV footage, in which it was found that two of the killers were entering the office wearing masks and another was wearing a cap.

Police, however, claimed to have identified the four as Al Amin alias Pichchi Al Amin, Saddam, Nuri and Sharifuddin and they were trying to arrest them.

There had been no rivalry between Helal and victim Siddik, Monirul said, quoting Helal.

The police official said Helal and his accomplices killed Siddik as they were instructed. They were also told that they would get a huge amount of money in Siddik's office.

The Chhatra Dal leader was also involved in a shooting incident in Badda on August 13 in 2015 that left four people killed, the police officer said.