Family members of slain Narayanganj ward councillor Nazrul Islam expressed frustration as the police did not file any remand petition for the prime accused Nur Hossain in the seven-murder case.
Even though the Detective Branch of police has already submitted the charge sheet in the sensational case, Nazrul’s wife and legal experts claimed that Nur could still be interrogated either in any of the 11 cases he faces or under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to unearth the mystery behind the killings.
Narayanganj Chief Judicial Magistrate Shahidul Islam sent Nur to jail after the police produced Nur before it yesterday afternoon. The court ordered that Nur be shown arrested in 11 cases, including two filed over the seven murders, with Siddhirganj and Fatulla police stations.
“There are arrest warrants in 11 cases against him. He should be sent to jail,” the judge said.
The whole process took just about 10 minutes. Following the court order, police took him to Dhaka Central Jail in a white microbus with tinted glass.
Police did not seek remand for Nur while no lawyer filed bail petitions for him in the two cases either.
However, sources said Nur was interrogated at the RAB 1 office yesterday morning, before being handed over to Narayanganj police.
A good number of people including relatives of the victims and lawyers gathered on the court premises in the morning hoping that Nur would be placed on police remand to unearth the mystery behind the much-talked killings. They chanted slogans demanding Nur’s remand and his highest punishment.
But after the order they left the premises disappointed. Many of them criticised the police for not seeking Nur’s remand.
Tight security measures were taken in and around the court to avert any untoward incidents.
Slain Nazrul’s wife Selina Islam Beauty said that the RAB members had no personal feud with her husband and the other victims. In police investigation, it was unclear why the accused had committed the murders.
“It is also not clear how Nur had managed the RAB men to kill the seven persons and who else were behind the killings.
“We want to know who helped Nur flee to India too … The police earlier told us that they would quiz Nur once he is brought back to Bangladesh. But they pressed the charges before Nur’s repatriation.”
She also criticised the investigation officer for dropping the names of five FIR-listed accused from the charge sheet deliberately.
Explaining the remand issue to reporters, Narayanganj district police chief Khandaker Muhid Uddin said that there was no legal scope to seek remand for Nur in the 11 cases – filed over the years on different charges – as the police had already submitted charge sheets in those cases.
“Nur Hossain was made accused in at least 20 cases including five involving murders. He got acquittal and police submitted final reports in nine of the cases. We have also submitted charge sheets in the two cases filed over the seven murder cases. There is no case left to seek his remand,” he said.
However, lawyer Md Shakhawat Hossain Khan, former president of Narayanganj District Bar Association, told reporters that the police were investigating a few other cases filed against Nur, in which he could be remanded.
“Even, he could be remanded under section 54 for the sake of investigation. Police could have got a chance to grill him about the seven murders, which is essential.
“The charge sheets they have submitted were prepared without questioning him. Those charge sheets are not complete,” he claimed.
Thirty-five people including 25 RAB 11 members were made accused in the charge sheets filed on April 8 this year. Former Awami League-backed councillor Nur is the key accused in the cases.
Family members of the victims submitted a no-confidence plea against the charge sheet alleging that some FIR-listed names had been dropped by the investigation officer. But the court rejected the petition.
The seven victims – Narayanganj City Corporation ward councillor Nazrul Islam, his driver and three associates, and senior lawyer Chandan Sarker and his driver – were abducted by some Rapid Action Battalion men from Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road on April 27 last year.
Nur allegedly bribed the RAB men for murdering Nazrul with whom he reportedly had a long-standing political feud. Lawyer Chandan and his driver were killed as they happened to witness the RAB men abducting Nazrul and his associates, the case says.
The murder outraged the nation when Nazrul’s father-in-law Shahidul Islam alleged that the RAB officers had taken Tk6 crore from Nur to kill Nazrul.
Three officials – former RAB 11 chief Lt Col Tareq Sayeed Mohammad, Maj Arif Hossain and Lt Commander MM Rana – were sacked for executing the killings. They have already given confessional statements in court.
Once a truck helper, Nur Hossain amassed huge wealth at home and abroad with the blessings of major political parties since the late ‘80s. He later became the vice-president of Siddhirganj unit Awami League.
He fled the country soon after the killings, allegedly with the help of local MP Shamim Osman, but was arrested on June 15 last year in West Bengal for illegal entry and possession of an illegal firearm.
A West Bengal court on October 16 this year ordered him to be deported to face trial in Bangladesh. The Indian government had earlier decided to withdraw the cases in view of the “more serious criminal charges against him in Bangladesh.”
Nur was handed over to BGB 26 Battalion Deputy Commander Maj Liakat Ali at Benapole border of Jessore around 11:30pm on Thursday. A RAB 1 team brought Nur to the elite force’s headquarters in the capital’s Uttara area around 5am, sources said.
After completing formalities and health check-up, Nur was handed over to Narayanganj police members at RAB 1 office around 7am. Escorted by a team of RAB 11, police took him to Narayanganj around 8:15am.
Sources said that Nur had been interrogated for around two hours at the RAB 1 office.
Nur’s repatriation took place within a day of Bangladesh handing over Ulfa leader Anup Chetia to the Indian authorities.
Lawyer for the victims Md Shakhawat Hossain Khan yesterday mentioned that the bribery allegations against Nur and RAB officers had not been solved.
“Nur could be interrogated about the bribes if he was placed on remand. The involvement of some other people could be unearthed too,” he said, adding that they would move the High Court seeking further investigation into the cases.
Public prosecutor SM Wazed Ali Khokon thinks there is no need to interrogate Nur Hossain. “Everyone’s role in the abduction and murders has been mentioned clearly in the charge sheets. There is no need for fresh investigation,” he said.
Yesterday the law enforcers took special measures in the city and at the court since morning. Heavily guarded Nur – in a helmet, bullet-proof vest and hand cuffs – was taken to the court around 2:35pm.
Nur seemed relaxed; he even smiled at the camera persons on the way to the court and while leaving for jail.
RAB claims achievement
Col Ziaul Ahsan, the additional director general of RAB, yesterday claimed that Nur’s repatriation was a great achievement of the elite force.
In a Facebook post, he also praised RAB for arresting most of the accused in the cases, despite the fact that some of its officers and members had been involved with the murders.
During interrogation, two of the three sacked top officials of RAB 11 alleged that some senior officials at the RAB Headquarters had been informed about the abduction and murder plot. The RAB Headquarters, however, binned the claim as baseless.
In their probe report submitted to the High Court, RAB said that the three sacked officials had acted on their own. It says RAB Headquarters and intelligence wing tried to rescue the victims alive but failed because Lt Col Tareq had concealed information from the headquarters.
The RAB report says: “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.”
