Police yesterday submitted the charge sheet in the Fulgazi upazila chairman Ekramul Haque murder, accusing 56 people but dropping the name of Feni 2 MP Nizam Uddin Hazari.
In the charge sheet submitted to a Feni court, the police have shown 27 of the accused arrested and 29 absconding.
Sixteen of the arrested accused have already confessed their involvement in the gruesome murder. Most of them are associated with the ruling Awami League and its youth wing, the Jubo League.
A number of them are close associates of MP Nizam Hazari, whose involvement in the murder is suspected on the basis of the statements given by the accused.
Inspector Abul Kalam Azad of Feni Model police station, who investigated the case and submitted the charge sheet to the court of Feni Senior Judicial Magistrate Khairul Amin, yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that he had not found evidence for Nizam’s involvement.
In reply to a query, Azad said Joynal Hazari’s involvement in the murder was also not proved.
Court sources said Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury Minar, president of Feni district Tanti Dal, was mentioned as the prime accused in the charge sheet.
Other names in the charge sheet include Feni district Awami League’s Joint Secretary Jahangir Adel, Jubo League leader Ziaul Alam Mister, Fulgazi upazila Awami League Joint Secretary Zahidul Islam alias Jihad Chowdhury, ward 5 AL President Abdullahil Mahmud Shiblu, Ruti Sohel, Nizam Hazari’s nephew Abid.
On May 20, some 30 unidentified youths, some of them wearing masks, attacked the motorcade of Ekramul Haque with firearms on the Academy Road in Feni on his way to Fulgazi upazila. The criminals shot fires and attacked Ekram’s vehicle with sharp weapons; they then set fire to his car. Ekram died on the spot.
Abid, one of the prime accused in the case, in his confessional statement to the court in May said: “Soon after the murder I contacted Nizam Hazari and district Awami League Joint Secretary Jahangir Adel over mobile phone about the incident.”
Analysing Nizam’s phone calls, the Detective Branch of police found that he had talked to Adel and Mister for several times. Investigators said at that time that the murder had been carried out as per the plan of Adel.
However, the law enforcers are yet to arrest Adel.
When contacted, Jasim Uddin, elder brother of Ekram and plaintiff of the case, expressed dissatisfaction with the investigation into the murder.
He said: “A few names surfaced in media reports as well as during the investigation soon after the killing, but those names have been dropped from the charge sheet for a mysterious reason.
“We have appealed to the authority from the very beginning to transfer the case to the CID, but no one listened to us. Now an incomplete charge sheet has been placed...We hope nothing from the trial.”
Ekram’s widow Tasmin Akther said: “We will not get fair trial...The main culprits are yet to be arrested – even their names are not in the charge sheet!”
Nizam Hazari has so far denied the allegation of his involvement in the murder.
When contacted, Paritosh Ghosh, superintendent of Feni police, told the Dhaka Tribune that most of the accused in the Ekram murder had been arrested and 16 of them had confessed their involvement.
“From the statements of the accused, we have got the names of some 60 people, but the identities of some could not be ascertained. So, the charge sheet has names of 56 people, whose identities were confirmed,” he said.
