An Awami League leader’s nephew was murdered in the capital’s Kalabagan area early yesterday in an apparent mugging case. Investigators however suspect that the murder might be the result of a previous enmity with the deceased.
The deceased is Md Obaidul Haque, 38, from Chandgaon, Chittagong and was the zonal manager of Quality Ice Cream company of Sanowara group. He was the nephew of a former member of the parliament and Chittagong Metropolitan Awami league leader Nurul Islam.
Obaidul lived with his wife in a flat on north circular road; rest of his family members lived in Chittagong.
He was returning home on a rickshaw late Friday night when three people on a motorbike intercepted him and asked for his valuables at gun-point, said the rickshaw-puller Jahangir.
One of the youths then instructed another to shoot Obaidul although he had given everything; he was then shot in the head, added the rickshaw-puller. The assailants then fled the scene.
The rickshaw-puller carried Obaidul to Kalabagan police station. Police then rushed him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where he died at 2:30am, said the police.
Obaidul’s maternal cousin Yasir Ahmed filed a case with Kalabagan police station yesterday afternoon accusing three unidentified miscreants, said Kalabagan police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Md Iqbal.
Obaidul’s colleague Sheikh Ahmed said Obaidul was at central road when he was shot. He said he and Obaidul lived in the same building; Obaidul lived on the third floor and he on the second floor.
Quoting Obaidul’s newly married wife Sonia Akhter, Ahmed said when Obaidul was returning from his office he got a phone call from his wife and went to buy medicine from a shop in Hatirpul and hired a rickshaw from there.
Later, finding Obaidul’s phone switched off, his wife knocked Ahmed and they found out from the police station that Obaidul was taken to DMCH.
OC Iqbal said they suspected the murder may have been over a previous enmity. He said the deceased gave all his belongings to the miscreants so they had no reason to shoot him.
Ahmed and Obaidul’s family members claimed that he had no rivalry with anyone, said the OC and added that it was not yet determined if it was a political murder or was there any other personal or financial reason.