Police have arrested a man with suspected links to the killings of two people, including Awami League leader Jahidul Islam Tipu, in Dhaka’s Shahjahanpur.

The suspect, identified as Masum Mohammad Akash, is allegedly a contract killer who was hired to murder Tipu, Additional Commissioner Hafiz Akhter of detective police said on Sunday. He was arrested in Bogura with the help of local law enforcement on Saturday, according to Hafiz.

"Akash fled to Joypurhat after the incident. He was planning to cross the border [into India] from there. But after failing to do so, he went to Bogura." Akash admitted his involvement in the Shahjahanpur murders during interrogation, according to the police.

He was hired to carry out an attack on Tipu, the former general secretary of the ruling party’s Motijheel unit, five days ago, said Hafiz. Akash had also made preparations to kill Tipu in an ambush in the capital's Kamalapur area the day before the shooting, he added.

But police did not shed light on who had hired him or the motive behind the killing. Describing Akash as the "main killer", Hafiz said, "It may not just have been about money. Perhaps he was promised some other benefits. He has confessed to the murders.”

But Akash's only target was Tipu. Asked about the death of Priti during interrogation, Akash told police that he had held down the trigger while aiming at Tipu and "did not notice anything else", according to Hafiz. The 54-year-old Tipu was gunned down under a flyover outside Manama Bhaban in the Amtala area on Thursday.

A gunman wearing a helmet on a motorcycle pulled up next to Tipu’s microbus and opened fire. Samia Afnan Prity, a student of Begum Badrunnesa Government Girls’ College, was also killed in the incident, while Tipu’s chauffeur 'Munna' was injured.

Tipu’s wife Farzana Islam Dolly, a local councillor of the city corporation, subsequently filed a case against unidentified suspects with the Shahjahanpur Police Station on Friday. She alleged that Tipu had received a death threat over the phone some days ago.

Tipu was accused and arrested in a decade-long case over the 2013 murder of Jubo League leader Reazul Haque Khan Milky. As Tipu's murder is being labelled a "contract killing" by police, Hafiz was asked if the incident was politically motivated but he remained tightlipped.

"We are exploring three or four possibilities. I will not talk about it in front of the media without being certain. There are four or five cases against him (Akash) for which he was absconding. But we have to verify all that. We have received information about one case."

After studying graphic arts, Akash made a living by running a cable TV business in the capital's Mugda. The son of a schoolteacher, Akash is married and has a child. Police will seek remand for him on Monday in a bid to find out who had ordered the murder of Tipu, said Hafiz.