After an Indian court yesterday ordered repatriation of Narayanganj seven-murder accused Nur Hossain, now detained in a West Bengal jail, family members of the victims hoped that the motives and the plotters behind the gruesome act would be unearthed soon.
Judge Sandwip Chakrabarty of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in North 24 Parganas of West Bengal gave the order accepting a prosecution plea.
“We demand that the government bring Nur Hossain back home immediately. We want to hear from him about the other killers and the planners, and why they killed the seven persons,” Selina Islam Beauty, wife of slain councillor Nazrul Islam, said yesterday.
Younger brother of deceased Moniruzzaman Swapan, Mizanur Rahman Ripon, termed Nur the mastermind behind the killings.
“The law enforcers should bring him back under tight security as he may be killed to conceal the facts behind the killings. We want him to be produced before the court. The people should be informed about the incident through the trial,” he added.
When contacted, family members of some victims did not want to make any comment fearing reprisal from the killers and their cohorts.
It is the first time India is sending a Bangladeshi national on trial after the extradition treaty was signed between the two countries.
Public prosecutor Bikash Ranjan Dey said that the magistrate had accepted his plea for withdrawal of the cases against Nur Hossain, BBC Bangla reports.
The government had earlier decided to withdraw the cases in view of the “more serious criminal charges against him in Bangladesh.”
“The Indian government has also decided to accept Bangladesh’s request to repatriate Nur Hossain for the trial of multiple murders. He is a dangerous criminal as Interpol issued a red corner notice against him,” Bikash said.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal yesterday said that the government was ready to bring back Nur Hossain. “We will bring him back after getting the necessary documents from the Indian side.”
Thirty-five people including sacked chief of RAB 11 Lt Col Tareq Sayeed Mohammad and former ward councillor Nur Hossain were named in the charge sheet submitted on April 8 this year. Sacked RAB officials – Maj Arif Hossain and Lt Commander SM Masud Rana – have also been named in the charge sheet.
However, the victims’ families have submitted to the court a no-confidence petition alleging that five FIR-named accused were dropped from the charge sheet.
Of the 35 accused, 12 are on the run.
Nur fled the country soon after the murders in April last year. He was arrested in West Bengal along with two accomplices on June 14 last year for illegal entry and possession of arms.
Plaintiff’s lawyer Shakhawat Hossain Khan said that many influential persons might be exposed if Nur was brought back home. “People want to know about their identities,” said Shakhawat, former president of Narayanganj District Lawyers’ Association.
On April 27 last year, Narayanganj City Corporation panel mayor Nazrul Islam, his three associates and driver were abducted from Fatulla area in the city. At the same time, senior lawyer of the Narayanganj District Judge’s Court Chandan Kumar Sarker and his driver were abducted on their way to Dhaka.
Three days into their abduction, the bodies of six people, including that of Nazrul and Chandan, were recovered from the Shitalakkhya and Dhaleshwari rivers on April 30. The body of Nazrul’s driver Jahangir was recovered from the Shitalakkhya River on May 1.
Two cases were filed in connection with the murders. Nazrul’s wife Beauty filed a case against six people, including former councillor Nur, while Chandan’s son-in-law Bijoy Kumar Paul filed the other case against some unknown people.
Shahidul Islam, Nazrul’s father-in-law, later claimed that the RAB officials had killed Nazrul and others in exchange for Tk6 crore from Nur Hossain and other accomplices.
Elite force RAB in their investigation report said: “We found during the investigation that Nur planned to abduct or kill Nazrul due to enmity over grabbing power and business problems. Probably Nur was in search of people from the administration who would do this for him. After much effort, he finally got Maj Arif and then Col Tareq Sayeed and Masud Rana to be his accomplices.”
However, the probe body did not find the involvement of any official of the RAB Headquarters or any other battalions with the crime as mentioned by Arif and Rana in their confessional statements.
